Theatres around the globe have had a tough couple of years, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, the second wave and its subsequent variants. Many theatre chains across Europe, America and Asia have taken to strategically shutting down and opening theatres as highly anticipated films drop. While this has been the case for the International cinema chains; Indian theatres have not had the choice to do such things; they faced compulsory shut down for months on end. With the current rise in Omicron and Covid-19 cases, could Indian theatres be looking at a third nationwide shutdown?
Indian theatres had their first shutdown when the nationwide lockdown happened back in 2020, in May. After a period of three-to-four months, most theatres opened around the country. The second shutdown happened separately, with each State deciding when to close cinema halls. Some States only opted for only a month, while some opted for four (varies from state to state). Among these theatres, Kerala theatres have had some of the worst shutdown numbers.
Kerala theatres have suffered in 2020 and 2020, and it looks like they are going to be suffering in 2022 as well. The nationwide lockdown that took place in 2020 (as mentioned previously), closed theatres within the State for eight months – cinema halls in Kerala eventually opening by 2021. However, the theatres were again shut down within the State for another six months after the number of Covid-19 cases increased due to the second wave of the coronavirus. If the number of the current cases continues to increase, we could be looking at theatres shutting down for another long period, at the very least, in the South Indian States.
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