Multiplexes run post-midnight shows to meet ‘Avengers: Endgame’ mania
| Date :28-Apr-2019 |
By Aasawari Shenolikar:
Movie tickets touch Rs 600 mark For the first time in the history of movie watching tickets are priced between Rs 380 to Rs 600 in multiplexes. Apart from this, it is for the first time shows as early as 1:30 am are being held in the city.
“I am going for the 6am show tomorrow morning. And I am going alone,” says Harsha, a youngster who stays in Kamptee and who incidentally is a die-hard Avengers fan. Having watched all the previous movies, she had been waiting eagerly for Avengers:Endgame and like scores of die hard fans of the superhero movie she wanted to catch the first day first show. “Unfortunately theBookMyShow server crashed and I had to do with a ticket for the Sunday show,” she rues but is ecstatic that she will finally get to see all the action on the big screen.
The hype around the movie has been unprecedented, the frenzy that the superheroes have evoked has beaten everything else in the movie kingdom till now. Within minutes of the ‘ advance booking’ the tickets were booked by the millions of crazy fans and in a day the movie has grossed Rs 52 crores. “The demand for the movie is such that we are holding more than 21 shows of English at PVR Empress mall,” apprised Joy Xavier the duty manager. And this is only at one multiplex. If you combine all the shows at all the theatre complexes in the city in all the languages and versions, it comes to a staggering 100 shows in a day. “The fans will watch any show, a couple of shows are at 1:30 am and early morning at 5.00 am and even these are housefull shows. People are not hesitating from shelling out the ticket amount, which on the higher side is close to Rs 600 per ticket,” states Joy.
This is the scenario in our city, a Tier II city. In the metros, it is no different, except the ticket prices have skyrocketed because of the obvious demand and craze. Kamal Gianchandani, CEO, PVR Pictures, was not in the least surprised at such a response. With 70 per cent of the PVR chain across the country allocating the slots to Avengers:Endgame, and with shows in Tamil and Telugu besides the Hindi and English version, almost the entire week is sold out. In the metros with the tickets at the high end selling for Rs 2,000 each, a family of four, with munchies thrown in will be shelling out a cool Rs 10,000 for one movie. But no one is complaining. In fact BookMyShow sold 25 lakh Avengers: Endgame tickets in advance.
“ This is a record,” says Joy, saying that not a single movie, not even Bahubali can come anywhere near the phenomenal opening of Avengers. The fans should thank their lucky stars that they are in India. Had they been in the USA their pockets would have been lighter by $500, which roughly translates to Rs 35,000 per ticket. But then do the obsessed fans really care? After all the spectacular three-hour action on the big screen is totally paisa vasool for them.