PVR INOX's focusing on small cities: Bihar gets 1st 'Smart Cinema'

India's next blockbuster audience won't necessarily be in the metro cities!

Movie nights in smaller Indian towns will get more frequent, as PVR INOX rolls out Smart Cinemas. This is a new cinema format designed for Tier III cities with budget-friendly screens. Tickets will cost around ₹150-175, roughly 30-35 per cent cheaper than those in bigger cities. And, over the next five years, PVR INOX plans to add 1,000 such screens across India.

What’s a Smart Cinema?

India's largest multiplex chain is looking beyond the metros, where cinephiles are already spoilt for choice with formats like IMAX and P[XL]. Meanwhile, the rest of the country has to make do with just seven cinema screens per million people (compared to nearly 100 in the US and over 40 in China). That's a pretty small number for a country that very much breathes Bollywood and even international cinema.

So, PVR INOX’s simple thought was: why not bring more movie time to smaller towns?

Smart Cinemas will have budget-friendly screens that cost around ₹1.9 crore each, compared to ₹3-4 crore for a conventional multiplex. Still, you can expect 2K laser projection and Dolby 7.1 surround sound inside an asset-light, franchise-led cinema complex.

Where are Smart Cinemas?

PVR INOX has identified nearly 300 cities where the format could roll out over the next five years!

The first Smart Cinema is set to open in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, just ahead of the Independence Day weekend, with another six to seven locations expected to launch this financial year.

Currently, PVR INOX operates 1,782 screens across 355 properties in 113 cities, but fewer than 5 per cent of those are located in Tier III towns.