21 theatres shut shop

It’s curtains for 21 City theatres

As much as 90 pc of the entertainment tax comes from Bangalore. And bulk of this amount comes from just 12 theatres which will stop screening.

Deccan Herald

Hemmed in by the State government’s new entertainment policy and the film-goers’ dwindling interest, a total of 21 film theatres including the Innovative Multiplex in Bangalore City have resolved to stop screening from August 30.

The decision on not to screen, announced on Saturday by the Karnataka Cinema Theatre Owners’ Association, comes in the backdrop of the State government’s decision to defer release of non-Kannada films for seven weeks.

“We have not been allowed to screen new non-Kannada films and movie-goers are not interested in seeing old films. With the theatre occupancy rate reduced to a mere six per cent now, the only way out for us is to close the theatres and wait till the government reconsiders its decision,” a member of the association told Deccan Herald.

The theatres that have decided to suspend screening indefinitely are Symphony, Rex, Abhinay, Kailash, Tribhuvan, Menaka, Urvashi, Cauvery, Naga, Nataraj, Sampige, Vaibhav, Lavanya, Sri Balaji, Parimala, Pradeep, Pushpanjali, Radhakrishna, Sangeet and Movieland.

The list also comprises 12 theatres which top the list of revenue-earners in the State. “The State government earns about Rs 33 crore per annum as entertainment tax and 90 per cent of the collections generate from Bangalore alone.

Of the 90 per cent, bulk of the tax amount comes from these 12 theatres which have now decided to stop screening, a non-Kannada film distributor said. He added: “The film industry has already suffered losses close to Rs 1 crore due to non-release of non-Kannada films on August 27 and it will lose over Rs 2.5 crore in September if it continues to prevent people from watching new films.”

Some of the movies that had generated a lot of hype but did not hit the Bangalore silverscreen on Friday were the Hollywood flick Anaconda - 2, Hindi films Dhoom and Phir Milenge and the Tamil film Madurai. The movies, which Bangaloreans will miss out in September include Manoj ‘Nigh’ Shyamalan’s The Village.
The worst hit by the seven-week delayed release are the multiplexes that have come up in the City in recent times.

“If only Kannada movies are screened at the multiplexes, all the halls would be virtually empty if one were to go by the City’s cosmopolitan outlook,” a distributor said.

He warned: “the government should stop satisfying a bunch of film producers who are puffed up with parochial thoughts and instead think in the larger interest of movie-goers in the City.”

The Theatre Owners’ Association said the 21 theatres would not screen any movie till the government revokes its decision.

NO SHOWS HERE

Symphony, Rex, Abhinay, Kailash, Tribhuvan, Menaka, Urvashi, Cauvery, Naga, Nataraj, Sampige, Vaibhav, Lavanya, Sri Balaji, Parimala, Pradeep, Pushpanjali, Radhakrishna, Sangeet and Movieland.