Dragon Country China has a bigger population compared to us. The nation also has some severe laws as China is known for dictatorship. However, this is not stopping the people in China from loving movie theatres and encouraging the theatre system. Compared to other countries, the theatre system is blossoming in China.
Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting spoke about the trend where the theatres are increasing in China at a crucial meeting held recently. The theatre system is not looking good in India as compared earlier, the number of theatres came down rapidly.
But China is seeing a contrasting trend compared to India. Around five to six years back, India had 12,000 theatres and now the count has come down to just 8,000 theatres. Around half the theatres were lost. However, the reverse trend is happening in China as per Apurva Chandra.
During the same time, the number of theatres increased to 70,000 from 10,000. The massive rise in theatres in China is working well for Indian films as dubbed films are scoring big in Chinese markets. Earlier we have seen how films like Dangal and Baahubali recorded massive collections in the Chinese market.
At the meeting, the importance of increasing the theatre count was discussed, reportedly citing the example of China. Drawing a comparison between India and China, the example of Malda in West Bengal where there is no single theatre despite having a population of 10 lakh was mentioned.
Recently, the Karnataka government introduced a new model to boost the theatre system. Under the model, six theatres were set up at the district headquarters in a span of three months. Fewer ticket prices were fixed and this resulted in a good outcome. This also came for discussion during the meeting.
As the Karnataka model drew good outcomes, there is a possibility of the model getting spread to other states as well. If this happens, we might see China model foraying into India.
The meeting was held on the topic of how to make India a big place for Content. Various stakeholders from the film industry attended the meeting that was held in Mumbai.
