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Cinema halls and multiplexes saw a drop in bookings as the skies opened up from the start of the week. Some theatres in South Chennai cancelled night shows due to heavy rain.
R Panneerselvam, owner of Rohini Theatres in Chennai, said there had been a dip in bookings. While the theatre witnessed close to 40 per cent drop in bookings since the start of the week, the occupancy stood at barely 20 per cent on Thursday night due to heavy rain.
“We are seeing only 40 per cent bookings for Friday and advance bookings have not even started,” Panneerselvam added.
With new movie release happening on Fridays, theatres usually run full house on Friday and Saturday nights and report good bookings for Sunday morning and evening shows. However, it has been different this weekend.
A look at ticket booking sites show that even the new releases are seeing conservative bookings. “With rain clearing up, we expect last-minute bookings for the weekend,” said another theatre owner.
Ramkumar N, founder of online ticket booking platform TicketNew, said it may not be a typical Friday and bookings might gain momentum depending on the weather conditions. “Thursday night show saw significant drop due to rainfall and our weekend bookings are yet to pick up,” he added.
According to Ramkumar, rain is not the only factor for the fall in ticket bookings. “After Mersal , there has been no big release. Choice of movies is also a factor,” he said.
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