NOW SHOWING: COVID-19 with Precautions

NOW SHOWING: COVID-19 with Precautions

An account of the impact of COVID-19 on the Cineplex Chains in India. The precautions being taken and the challenges that lie ahead.

India is often considered a country obsessed with movies. On an average over 1000 feature films are released in India every year in over 27 languages. It is a multi-billion-rupee industry in terms of net worth, making it one of the largest industries for cinema worldwide. COVID-19 has adversely impacted most of the industries, and the Indian film industry is no exception. Indian movie-goers throng cinema halls, be it the modernized multiplexes or the old-school single screen theaters. Amidst lockdown, the cinema halls were completely shut for 7 months, followed by partial re-opening but apprehensive customers. The industry has suffered in many ways and aspects; it was the first one to shut and the last one to open up.  

The film industry is much more than just the leading movie stars. It encompasses everyone who earns his or her bread and butter through the movies that are led by the leading movie stars.  The producers, directors, assistant directors, cinematographers, editors, writers, music directors, singers, actors, choreographers, background dancers, photographers, casting directors, spot boys… the list goes on and on. As a rough estimate over 3, 00,000 people are directly dependent on the film industry and about a million people indirectly earns their livelihood through it. COVID-19 has not just ripped the cinema-goers of the opportunity to watch movies on the big screen; it has also ripped livelihoods off many who earned it through those movies. Starting from the big-shot producer to the person selling popcorns outside a single screen theatre in a third tier city, everyone has been adversely impacted.

Covid-19’s first impact came when Reliance Entertainment on March 12 indefinitely postponed Rohit Shetty’s film “Sooryavanshi”. The film starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif was scheduled to release on March 24. This was quickly followed by Sir, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, Haathi Mere Sathi and 83 other movies getting postponed too. “Baaghi 3” saw fewer takers in its second week, and Irrfan Khan and Kareena Kapoor starrer “Angrezi Medium” had to be pulled out of theatres. Similarly a lot of big ticket releases in regional languages were also delayed. Major production houses like Balaji Motion Pictures, Dharma Productions and Yash Raj Films among others promptly called off all production activity. This was followed by 7 months of cinema halls being completely shut. Though the cinema halls have opened up now, there doesn’t seem to be enough audience for the production houses to opt for a theatre release.

After months of lockdown and uncertainty, the world’s biggest movie industry is finally running again. But with the pandemic still raging, Bollywood casts and crews are still figuring out how to work — and how to pull off the sumptuous locations and dance sequences it’s known for — without getting many people sick. The audience is still apprehensive about going back to the theatres. The Cinema halls are taking various precautions to in order to win over the confidence of the audience:

PRECAUTIONS BEING UNDERTAKEN BY CINEMA HALLS

General Guidelines The generic measures include public health measures that are to be followed to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. These measures need to be observed by all (workers and visitors) at all times.

These include:

·        Adequate physical distancing of at least 6 feet to be followed outside the auditoriums, common areas and waiting areas at all times.

·        Use of face masks to be made mandatory at all times.

·        Availability of hand sanitizers, preferably in the touch-free mode, at entry and exit points as well as common areas within the premises.

·        Respiratory etiquettes to be strictly followed. This involves strict practice of covering one's mouth and nose while coughing/sneezing with a tissue/handkerchief/flexed elbow and disposing off used tissues properly.

·        Self-monitoring of health by all and reporting any illness at the earliest to state and district helpline.

·        Spitting shall be strictly prohibited.

·         Installation & use of Aarogya Setu App shall be advised to all.

Entry & Exit Points

·        Thermal screening of visitors/staff is to be carried out at entry points. Only asymptomatic individuals shall be allowed to enter the premises.

·        Provisions for hand sanitization should be made available at all entry points and in work areas.

·        Designated queue markers shall be made available for entry and exit of the audience from the auditorium and the premises.

·        The Exit should be done in a staggered row-wise manner to avoid crowding.

·        Sufficient time interval between successive screenings on a single screen as well as on various screens in a multiplex shall be provided to ensure row-wise staggered entry and exit of the audience.

Physical Distancing Norms

·        Proper crowd management in the parking lots and outside the premises-duly following physical distancing norms shall be ensured.

·        Number of people in the elevators shall be restricted, duly maintaining physical distancing norms.

·        Efforts shall be made to avoid overcrowding in the common areas, lobbies and washrooms during the intermission. Audience may be encouraged to avoid movement during the intermission. Longer intermissions may be used to allow audience seated in different rows of the auditorium to move in a staggered manner.

Staggered Show Timings at Multiplexes

·        Staggered show timings shall be followed for multiple screens to avoid crowding.

·         The show commencement time, intermission period and finish time of a show at any screen shall not overlap with the commencement time, intermission period or finish time of a show at any other screen in a multiplex.

Booking and Payments

·        Digital no-contact transactions should be the most preferred mode for issue/verification/payments for tickets, food, and beverages, etc. by using online bookings, use of e-wallets, QR code scanners, etc.

·        Contact number shall be taken at the time of booking of tickets to facilitate contact tracing.

·        The purchase of tickets at the box office shall be open throughout the day and advance booking shall be allowed to avoid crowding at the sale counters.

·        Sufficient number of counters at the box office shall be opened with adequate physical distancing norms, to prevent crowding during physical booking of tickets.

·        Floor markers shall be used for physical distancing during queue management at the box office.

Sanitization of the Premises:

·        Frequent sanitization of the entire premises, common facilities, and all points which come into human contact, e.g. handles, railings, etc. shall be ensured.

·        The cinemas/theatres/multiplexes auditorium shall be sanitized after every screening.

·        Regular cleaning and disinfection of the box office, food and beverage areas, employee and staff lockers, toilets, public areas, and back office areas shall be ensured.

·         Measures for the safety of staff such as adequate provisions for rational use of gloves, boots, masks, PPE, etc. shall be undertaken.

·        Disinfection of the premises to be taken up if any person is found positive.

Staff Related Measures

·        Wearing of face mask for staff is mandatory at all workplaces and adequate stock of such face covers should be made available.

·         All employees who are at higher risk, i.e., older employees, pregnant employees, employees who have underlying medical conditions, to take extra precautions. They should preferably not be exposed to any front-line work requiring direct contact with the public.

·         With a view to ensure safety at the workplace, employers on best effort basis should ensure that Arogya Setu is installed and updated by all employees their mobile phones.

·        Communication and training of the staff on precautions related to COVID-19, respiratory hygiene, hand hygiene, etc. shall be carried out.

·        Self-monitoring of health by all employees/staff and reporting any illness at the earliest shall be ensured.

Public Awareness

·        Do's and Don'ts shall be communicated at prominent access points: Online sale points, digital tickets, public areas like lobbies, washrooms, etc.

·        Public Service Announcements on wearing mask, observing physical distancing and maintaining hand hygiene as well as specific announcements on the precautions and measures to be followed within and outside the premises shall be made before the screening, during intermission and at the end of the screening.

·        Provisions must be made for display of Posters/standees/AV media on preventive measures about COVID-19 prominently outside and inside of the venues.

Air-Conditioning/Cooling

For air-conditioning/ventilation, the guidelines of CPWD shall be followed which, inter alia, emphasizes the following:

·        Temperature setting of all air conditioning devices should be in the range of 24-30°C.

·        Relative humidity should be in the range of 40-70%.

·        Re-circulation of air to be avoided to the extent possible.

·        Intake of fresh air should be as much as possible.

·        Cross ventilation should be adequate.

Food and Beverage Area

·        Show timings in the cinema halls to be staggered to ensure that intervals of different shows do not occur simultaneously.

·        Customers shall be encouraged to use cinema apps/QR codes, etc. for ordering food as much as possible.

·        Multiple sale counters in food and beverage area be made available wherever possible.

·        One line systems to be followed using floor stickers to maintain physical distancing at every sale counter.

·        Only packaged food and beverages shall be allowed.

·        Delivery of food and beverage inside the hall/auditorium shall be prohibited.

·        Management shall ensure observance of physical distancing and preventing crowds in the food and beverages area.

·        Safe disposal of the food and beverage waste shall be ensured by the management of the premises.

CHALLENGES AHEAD

The Cineplex chains face many challenges today despite government allowing the cinema halls to run at 100% capacity. The major challenge is to earn back the confidence of the audience which is still apprehensive about going to cinema halls and has found comfort, convenience and entertainment in the OTT (Over-the-top) platforms. The production houses are still apprehensive about theatre releases for their movies as there’s immense uncertainty in terms of the reception from audience. There’s a possibility of running into huge losses if the movies fail to pull the audience to the theatres. With no movie releases, the cinema chains have nothing to offer and hence are bound to run into losses, for they still have to pay for the fixed expenses. Hence, it’s of utmost importance for now to gain the trust of the movie-goers so that the cinema halls can be brought back to normalcy, not just officially but practically.

Another challenge that the Cineplex chains have to tackle is the competition posed by the OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, Hotstar, Zee5, AltBalaje etc. During the lockdown, the OTT platforms have witnessed growth like never before. The customer base has spread from only the millenials to now almost people across all age groups preferring to watch movies and shows on OTT platforms. Biggest of the movies have started releasing directly on the OTT platforms. Hence, OTT platforms not only provide an alternative to the audience but also to the production houses, either way hampering the business of the Cineplex chains in India. The OTT sector in India witnessed a 30% rise in the number of paid subscribers, from 22.2 million to 29.0 million between March and July 2020. In the coming years, as the internet penetration and digital maturity will rise, a major proportion of the OTT subscribers will be from Tier II+ cities. The OTT landscape is expected to get hyper competitive in next 4–5 years and the OTT service providers will strive to emerge as the preferred platform among consumers.

With these challenges at hand, the road ahead for Cineplex chains is definitely bouncy. There are a lot of things that aren’t under their control but there’s always scope and value for innovation. Various alternatives to quintessential cinema halls can be brought into mainstream. The Indian population has in recent times been very adaptive of all things new. Cineplex chains can try attracting the audience with open-air theatres or drive-in theatres. Anything besides the conventional cinema halls can definitely pull the crowd back. The big screen will always have the charm and the television at home, though not an idiot box anymore, still definitely has its own limitations.