With many States giving their nod for re-opening of cinemas, the cash registers are all set to begin ringing at the theatres from Friday.

Multiplex chains said that they will re-open theatres in locations where permissions have been granted from July 30 in a staggered manner, in-line with safety protocols and strong focus on vaccination of the staff.

Hollywood time

Initially the cinemas will be banking on a strong Hollywood-movie content line-up. Warner Bros Pictures’ Mortal Kombat, a martial arts-fantasy film based on the video-game franchise will hit screens in India at select theatres and locations on Friday.

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Other Hollywood movies slated to be released in India at the box office in the next three weeks include The Suicide Squad 2 , Promising Young Woman and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It . Films like Fast & Furious 9 , The Croods: A New Age and Nobody are also set to be released in the coming days.

In a statement, Ajay Bijli, Chairman and Managing Director, PVR Ltd said, “We are excited to re-open and the slate for this year looks promising. The strategy is to showcase maximum content across screens to meet the pent-up demand. So, with big-ticket Bollywood and regional films awaiting announcement by producers and internationally released Hollywood content, as cinemas open up post the second wave, we expect the movie going habits to return among patrons. The focus now will be to encourage vaccination alongside introducing our new offerings as we begin to win back the confidence of our audience back to big screen entertainment.”

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Inox Leisure Ltd on Thursday tweeted that it is reopening theatres in select cities across regions such as Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Rajender Singh Jyala, Chief Programming Officer, Inox Leisure Ltd said, “With a promising content pipeline in the months to come, we strongly believe that the remaining part of 2021-22 will be a treat for the movie enthusiasts across the country. As India emerges from the clutches of the second wave of Covid-19, we are completely geared up and prepared to welcome back movie lovers across select cities we are set to reopen from July 30. We will keep opening our cinemas as per operational readiness and government guidelines in the near future.”

Key States yet to open

As of July 29, 12 States and two Union Territories have allowed cinemas to re-open. Most of the States that have given permissions to open cinemas have imposed a 50 per cent occupancy cap for now.

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The key States that have so far not given permission for cinemas to re-open include Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Covid-induced restrictions had forced cinemas to suspend operations during the first and the second pandemic wave in the country

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