With lockdown in place and per the government orders, single screen theatres and multiplexes have been shut for quite a while now. To think on the positive side it gives the owners time to upgrade, repair or make changes to their property which might have been pending for long. Obviously this requires funds and one inevitably turns towards banks. But what if banks decline the request saying there’s no point for renovations since most of the movies are going for direct-to-digital release.
This indefinite lockdown made producers take the OTT route for their films in order to extract their investment and pay their dues. But this has upset the theatre owners who have lost a lot of business. The problem lies not only in losing films to OTTs as has been the debate everywhere but there are other technical aspects involved. The plight of cinema owners goes much beyond it.
Even though everything is closed, the digital screen owners are forced to operate their projectors once in two days for two hour lest the equipment will develop a fault. This includes running the generator as well as the air-conditioner to prevent the shaft from developing glitches. All this leads to huge electricity bills every month. On top of that, despite not having any source of income, theatre owners are also compelled to pay the salaries of staff.
All this requires money for which they ask the banks for loans. But the banks have been seemingly reluctant in extending loans. The reason cited is movies going for OTT release skipping the theatres. Probably there is a thought process that investing in cinema halls for either renovation or for making the ends meet is not profitable for the banks. This has added to the problems of the owners who are already losing business and are under major stress.
So far we have seen how theater owners, distributors etc. opposed films going for direct OTT releases but now the banks have found a good excuse because of this trend.
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