Once again, Pakistani film is experiencing an existential crisis.
One of Karachi’s few remaining popular and reasonably priced single-screen theatres, Capri Cinema, shut its doors on Monday, June 6, and didn’t reopen until Thursday, June 9. Although the reason for the temporary shutdown was not stated in the Facebook notification, it was clear why: less people are going to the movies.
Generally speaking, no, at least. And certainly not throughout the week.
The message was accompanied by an advertising that was cut out of a newspaper and announced that the theatre would reopen on June 10 with Jurassic World: Dominion.
Between June 3 and 5, or on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the 807-seat theatre showed a variety of films, including Top Gun: Maverick, Iron Mask, Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (Dr. Strange 2), Kamli, Ghabrana Nahi Hai (GNH), and Khel, a shoddy Pakistani children’s movie in the vein of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven and Famous Five that appeared and vanished without warning.
The movie industry in Pakistan is once again experiencing an existential crisis as a result of the lack of moviegoers, especially for purportedly blockbuster Hollywood material. Some movie theatres are even considering just operating on weekends. Can Pakistani movies withstand the repercussions?
It wasn’t the first time Capri Cinema has lowered the covering on its enormous screen. The theatre had already shuttered its doors from May 23 to May 27. Prior to that week, Capri had sometimes supported Pakistani films Chakkar, Parde Mein Rehne Do, Dum Mastam, GNH, and two performances of Rishtay while tolerating Dr. Strange 2 screenings.
Although it’s certainly more than that, some people attribute Capri’s choice to cease operations during the weekdays to the management’s failure to pay off its electrical dues. One cannot dispute that the theater’s management is on to something, even if it were the only factor.
It is best to halt operations until weekends when audiences are more willing to spend money at the movies because the audience is not showing up and a cinema screen needs at least 10% to 20% occupancy to hit a no-profit-no-loss scenario at a given show (depending on the cost of the ticket and the number of seats it has).
The problem of high operating costs is one that theatre owners have long bemoaned. In actuality, despite the government’s relaxation of Covid-19 limitations, this was the main deterrent for multiplexes to begin operations.
