Only ‘event cinema’ going to rule theatres in the coming years?

Every time, when there is a talk about ‘Theatre Watching Experience’, especially in India, the majority of the people convey their interest in the Larger than Life or Star-studded or Event movies which are of high budget action or periodic Drama. When we compare this situation with the past, we can observe a huge contrast in the interest of the Theatregoing audience.

There are only a few small independent movies with good content doing well in the theatres and the others are only mere display which later gets selected in Film Festivals or grabbing awards in the critics choice category.

When there is easy access to a lot of great content across the globe, which can be watched in the home itself, there needs to be a great force to drag the audience into the theatre. That movies which act as that great force are majorly Event movies, High budget, stars, etc.., There needs to be something which audience feels that is worth watching only on the Big Screen out there.

There is a unique consideration in the Indian Box Office market, where the ‘Family Audience’, meaning an entire family, going to theatres is considered as a great sign for the film’s theatre run. The majority of those ‘Family Audience’ going to theatre happens very rarely and even if that does happen, it will be for an Event or star’s movie. With this being the current equation of the Family audience, whose enormous contribution is required for the movie’s good theatrical run, the possibility of getting their acknowledgment will only be for a few movies.

So, the audience turning towards the theaters for every good content movie out there, irrespective of its star cast or Budget periodic or action, will be very low because the majority of the audience are going to consider the factor “Theatre watching content’. It’s not like no one will be going to the theatre for small independent good content films, there are the audience for those films as well who can even decide their fate at the box-office. But the larger chunk remains on the other side and with the easy global content availability, the overall theatre-going audience starts to behave selectively which gives an edge for the event movies.

Even with the rapid increase in the consumption of global content, some people say such a scenario won’t be there in the near future while others say the scenario mentioned above has already started. The change of events like this can be confirmed only years after it starts.

All the above-mentioned equations have started to create an impact in the northern part of the country, whereas the regional cinema down south may take a little longer because of the standard strong theatre watching base it had over the years. Overall, this issue does not remain in a particular region, it’s a global issue.