VIJAYAWADA: Almost after three months, cinema theatres in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled to reopen with 50 per cent occupancy following alternate seating on Friday. Film exhibitors will hold a meeting in the city on Thursday to discuss the course of action to be taken regarding reopening of cinema theatres for the screening of films. The exhibitors reportedly have some issues that they want to bring to the notice of the state government to resolve them.
Films like ‘Thimmarusu’ and ‘Ishq’ are scheduled to release on Friday in the state. Manager of Raj & Yuvaraj theatre D Srikanth said, the film exhibitors are wary of reopening theatres in semi-urban and rural areas of the state in view of a lower slab fixed by the government for ticket prices.
There are 1,250 theatres across the state, of which, around 60 per cent are located in semi-urban and rural areas, where the majority of the public watch films in theatres as it is their only source of entertainment. The State government had already issued a notification directing theatre managements to adhere to the maximum ceiling rates, in accordance with the ticket prices fixed by the government, he said.
Film distributor KVV Prasad maintained that they are finding it tough to reopen theatres as their operations have become unremunerative because of low ticket prices. “A revision in ticket prices would make the screening of films financially viable,” Prasad said.