It is common to watch trailers of upcoming films before the main movie screening and during the interval break. On Youtube, trailers of top stars as well as less popular ones receive great appreciation and millions of views within the first week of its release. To capitalise on the popularity of trailers, PVR INOX, India’s largest film exhibitor has announced the world’s first curated Trailer Screening Show on the big screens, at just rupee 1. The 30-minute screening will feature over 10 handpicked trailers of the upcoming Bollywood, Hollywood and regional movies, and offer a unique, quick and an unprecedented content option for the audiences.
Gautam Dutta, Co-CEO, PVR INOX, said, “Watching trailers on the big screen with high-quality sound and visuals can enhance the movie-going experience and add to the excitement of seeing a highly anticipatedfilm, it offers an immersive and social experience that cannot be replicated at home. With the launch of our 30-minute Trailer Screening Show, we aim to present our viewers with a short, power-packed snackable entertainment offering on the big screen at a price as low as Re.1. This first-of-its-kind content offering is for every cinephile who wants to watch a quick screening of their favourite upcoming movie trailers whilst sitting comfortably and binging on delicious snacks. In addition, it is not heavy on the pocket too. We invite the movie-lovers from all over the country to enjoy this eccentric cinema experience.”
PVR Limited, which completed the merger with INOX Leisure Limited, effective Feb. ’23, is the largest film exhibition company in India with 1680 screens across 359 properties in 115 cities (India and Sri Lanka). Together, the combined entity manages about 25% of all cinema screens in India making it a formidable competition with smaller chain of multiplexes and a force to reckon for the larger fraternity of single-screen cinemas.
Cinema watching has tumbled after the onset of the pandemic, not just because of the scare of spread of the virus but due to other avenues of watching content such as OTT platforms as well as enhances satellite subscriptions on mobile devices. After a long lull, Pathan starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone pulled audiences to watch a Hindi cinema while the likes of RRR, KGF-2, PS-1, among others drew the regional audiences as well as the national audiences with its dubbed versions.
The concept of 30-min shows, especially at such low prices could certainly attract college goers as well as first timers to multiplexes. They will get to experience watching high quality content on the big screen with stupendous audio quality compared to listening & watching experiences at home or smaller devices & headphones. The entry of such customers will also add to the coffers at the food and beverage counters, leading to incremental business. Lastly, if the trailers are crisp and promising, then it would in turn attract the audience to come back to watch the full movie. Whichever way, this is a masterstroke by PVR-Inox.