Only 10% Of Indians Ready To Go For Movies As Danger Of Delta Variant Still Looms: LocalCircles Survey

Though many states and UTs including Delhi have allowed cinema halls to open, moviegoers don't seem to be in any hurry to go to the theaters.

Image Source: PTI

New Delhi: Cinemahalls and movie theaters in many states and UTs including Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. These places have allowed cinema halls to open in line with safety protocols and strong focus on vaccination of the staff, most are given permission to open cinemas with a 50% limit on seating capacity.

However, movie goers don't seem to be in any hurry to go to the theaters any time soon. 

As the 2nd Covid wave started, cinema halls and multiplexes were some of the places to first shut down. A LocalCircles survey asked citizens if they would visit cinema halls or multiplexes in the next 60 days (August-September). Out of the 10,711 responses, 67% of citizens said they have “no plans to go” to cinema halls/multiplexes in the next 60 days. 19% said they “don’t watch movies in multiplexes or cinema halls. 4% did not have an opinion, or they have not yet decided. On an aggregate basis, only 10% of citizens plan to visit a cinema hall or multiplex to watch a movie in the next 60 days. 

In a related survey by LocalCircles conducted in June 2021, only 8% of citizens said they plan to visit cinema halls or multiplexes to watch a movie. This percentage has increased slightly to 10% of citizens now planning to visit cinema halls or multiplexes to watch a movie in the next 60 days.

Public awareness about the infectious nature of the Delta variant and the fact that the virus is likely to spread much more in poorly ventilated indoor spaces, with most cinema halls across India falling in this category, citizens are still hesitant to go to cinema halls, though they will be operational across most of India.

States that have allowed cinema halls to reopen have strictly mandated that there should be “no mask, no entry”, along with sanitisation checks, contactless service from tickets to food, etc. However, the implementation of the same across most of the cinema halls will be extremely difficul