A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh high court has allowed the Andhra government to control admission rates of cinemas. Except for multiplexes in the state, the maximum price which a cinema can charge after the order is Rs. 100. This is expected to have far-reaching consequences on the business of films. Just yesterday, Vakeel Saab (Telugu) opened to extraordinary houses and managed to yield a distributor’s share of about Rs. 32 crore from Andhra-Ceded on the first day. With ticket rates set to come down because of the high court order, business of the blockbuster is expected to be adversely affected. The Ugadi festival (New Year) on April 13 was likely to generate heavy footfalls in cinemas for this and other films. With admission rates set to decrease, the revenues stand to be reduced dramatically.
Of course, cinemas which have sold tickets in advance, don’t need to refund the monies charged in excess of what is now legal. But any further sale of tickets will have to be at the new (reduced) rates. The logic behind the new rates seems to be warped because a number of cinemas in small centres installed 4K/Atmos sound at heavy cost after the runaway success of Bahubali and its sequel. The Andhra Pradesh government approached the high court with a special leave petition to implement the impractical ticket rates. The film industry has already been reeling under losses post-lockdown. As if those losses were not enough, the government has now come with the restriction on admission rates which will put producers, distributors and exhibitors to huge losses.
The various distributors who have acquired the rights of Vakeel Saab, in particular, will stand to lose because of the limits put on ticket prices.