The Indian film exhibition industry has suffered over Rs 10,000 crore loss due to the closure of the single screens and multiplexes since the Coronavirus outbreak in March. With the government of India giving permission to other businesses to re-open, there has been a nationwide demand to permit movie theaters to re-open.
Finally, much to the relief of exhibitors and filmmakers, the central government has just announced that movie theaters across the country will re-open from October 15 as part of the Unlock 5.
All theaters will open with a 50 percent capacity. The I&B Ministry will soon be issuing the SOP in this regard. It remains to be seen whether movie theaters will manage to get audience’s patronage in these hard times amid the pandemic.