The Hindu Business Line : Adlabs targeting cinema goers in tier II cities

On the cards
Plan to add 12-13 Ebony Lounges in our signature locations.
Investing about three times more than what is spent on a usual screen.
The 30-40-seater facility offers movie on demand, choice of food and beverages.

Mumbai June 25 Adlabs Cinemas, running multi-screen facilities in India plans to target customers "who have stopped going to theatres for lack of facilities," said Mr Tushar Dhingra, Chief Operating Officer of the multiplex operator.

Buoyant about the growth of the format, company is targeting more screens in metros and looking at tier II cities in a big way.

Growth prospects

"In our experience people in places such as Mangalore, Meerut and other smaller places have not been going to cinema halls for the last 15 years but the propensity for watching movies in India is very high and, therefore, the scope of growth is tremendous," he added.

Coupled with that is the expansion of its Ebony Lounge concept.

Adlabs plans to expand the idea of personalised cinema halls to tier II cities too.

Starting off in Mumbai and then going to Noida and Ahmedabad, Kanpur will have its first such lounge next week. Mumbai will have another Ebony Lounge too, Mr Dhingra said.

To Add more

"We plan to add 12 to 13 Ebony Lounges in our signature locations investing approximately three times more than what is spent on a usual screen," Mr Dhingra said.

The 30 to 40-seater facility offers movie on demand, choice of food and beverages and much more, he added.

Looking for USP in programming content, Mr Dhingra said, it is the "primary driver for Adlabs Cinemas."

Silver screens

The multiplexes already offer Silver Screens targeting senior citizens, 10 minutes more of a film, exclusive releases of certain films and other such sops, and plans to cash on it in the future too.

Earlier, Adlabs had informed its plans to double the number of screens by the end of this fiscal year from the existing 74.

The company spends around Rs 2 crore per screen.

IMAX format

Finding the IMAX format "commercially unviable", Adlabs is also exiting from its IMAX format in Mumbai and converting it into 35 mm screen with over 500 seats. However, the Delhi IMAX theatre would stay, Mr Dhingra said.