PVR INOX’s profit plunged 20% to Rs 12.8 crore during October-December 2023 from Rs 15.9 crore in the year-ago period due to fewer releases, with the controversial Hindi film ‘Animal’ and Prabhas-starrer ‘Salaar’ coming to India’s largest multiplex chain’s rescue in December in what was otherwise a dull quarter at the box office.
While the firm’s quarterly revenue rose to Rs 1,604 crore from Rs 960 crore a year ago, the number of patrons visiting its cinemas dropped by 2% to 36.5 million from the 37.1 million who visited a year ago. On the other hand, its average ticket price rose 14% to Rs 271 in this duration, indicating that the higher revenue was mainly on account of higher ticket prices rather than higher footfalls.
Also read: PVR Inox Q3 earnings: Profit falls 20%, revenue climbs to Rs 1,604 cr
The quarter also had 41% fewer releases at 209 across languages compared to the 352 movies released during October-December 2022.
The first half of the quarter had a muted start due to the cricket world cup hosted in India, the firm noted, singling out Tamil film ‘Leo’ (Rs 400 crore plus), Hindi films ‘12th fail’ (over Rs 65 crore) and Tiger 3 (Rs 340 crore-plus) as the highlights of October-November.
“December emerged as the highest-grossing month of 2023 with a stellar performance of films released during the month. Hindi film ‘Animal’ which grossed over Rs 650 crore, became a phenomenal success and the second highest grossing Hindi film of all time,” said a press release, mentioning ‘Salaar’ (Rs 480 crore), ‘Dunki’ (Rs 270 crore) and ‘Sam Bahadur’ (Rs 110 crore till date) as note-worthy.
Also read: Stocks to watch out for today: Vedanta, Innova Captab, PVR Inox, KPI Green and more
This comes even as the year 2023 has been a standout with the Indian gross box office collections across languages exceeding Rs 12,000 crore for the first time ever, surpassing 2019’s collection of Rs 10,948 crore, as per Ormax Box Office Report 2023.
“In the year 2023, India stands out as the sole major market worldwide to surpass the pre-pandemic peak in box office collections…These statistics underscore the resilience of the Indian cinema industry as a preferred medium of entertainment,” said Ajay Bijli, Managing Director, PVR INOX Ltd.
Nearly a year since erstwhile rivals PVR and INOX completed a merger on February 6, 2023, necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm said the integration process has been moving along well and producing significant operational savings.
By opening a total of 97 new screens and exiting 62 underperforming screens in the nine months financial year 2023-24, the firm said it continues to focus on profitable expansion. “We're firmly on track to open a total of 160-170 new screens in FY’24, and will fund this growth through internal accruals,” said the press note. As on date PVR INOX operates 360 cinemas with 1,712 screens across 113 cities.