Revenue will be down at least 40-50 per cent year-on-year this quarter and will be a ‘complete washout’ owing to the outbreak of coronavirus, as this necessitated closure of cinemas till the end of this month, said Mohan Umrotkar, CEO, Carnival Cinemas. The ‘weak movie line-up’ in January and February is another factor, he added.

“It is unfortunate that business is affected so much, but human life is of most importance. Necessary precautions are a must in these times of crisis. We may not get the desired revenue this quarter, but it will come in the subsequent months. As a business model, we have a fixed overhead. So, that’s a loss if the cinemas go vacant for a longer period of time,” Umrotkar said in a statement on Monday.

COVID-19 has affected business immensely, he said. Once the cinemas open again from April 1 onwards, it is expecting that the situation will be under control. “We are expecting that we will be up and running from April 1 onwards with (the) utmost important feature at Carnival – hygiene and public safety.”

After things gets back to normal, the first quarter of the next financial year should yield at least 5-8 per cent more revenue than the corresponding quarter last year, he said. This is because the current line-up of the film looks very promising, including 83, Raadhe, Laxxmi Bomb, the new James Bond movie, and many more, he said.

“If the situation remains the same in April, the first quarter will also face some heat,” he cautioned.

“Momentum is now building up to impose physical distancing once again. But it’s critical to be smart about it. We strongly support these measures, which will save lives. This is the first week of complete lockdown and we are not getting many queries from patrons as the first priority is staying safe. Unfortunately, we are in this for the long haul. We need to prepare to pull together, help one another and preserve social cohesion while we use physical distancing to combat the virus,” he said.

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