The present state of Nepali Cinema halls

Cinema halls around the nation gear up for an immense surge in ticket sales and inquiries from youngsters and adults alike looking to feast their eyes upon the Marvel Universes’ latest blockbuster flick, Spiderman: No Way Home. The third installment in the Marvel reboot of the Spiderman series, comes at the perfect time for the Nepali Cinema Market. For an industry hit severely by COVID, the rebound after the pandemic in this post COVID market is slow and steady. That is until the release of Spiderman which is sure to boost sales and provide the injection of interest back into films and movie halls.

Due to the COVID restrictions brought forth by the government, the once booming cinema hall industry came to a complete halt. Even after the reopening of Cinema halls on October 7 this year by the government, Halls still run most shows below half occupancy unless the movie is a big blockbuster. This slow uptake in the numbers can be attributed to a number of factors, may it be the general fear surrounding the virus, the volatile economy or the diverted priorities of the general public.

A spokesperson from Q’s Cinema, Rising mall reported the stark disparities in pre and post COVID numbers, “Occupancy was almost (80-90)% during weekends and (40-50)% during weekdays. Even for low budget movies the occupancy would only decline by (20-25) % .” But in this post COVID world he mentions regular viewership for weekends and weekdays at only (50-60) %

Much like the world itself, the Nepali Cinema halls too have had to adapt to the new times to ease the fear amongst the public and attract more moviegoers back. The halls now only sell seats keeping a one seat gap between one individual or group and another. The halls also have mask and disinfectant policies that the moviegoers must follow. Even with such measures taken the cinema halls will gladly welcome this fresh breath of life that arrives at their doorstep this 17th of December.

When in conversation with a spokesperson from QFX, the spokesperson reported extraordinary ticket sales for the Spiderman movie. The movie ticket sales for the period of Friday, Saturday and Sunday have reached 12,500+ individual ticket sales across its 10 cinema halls, with 10,000+ tickets being sold within the valley itself. With the overall decrease in the post COVID market relative to that of the pre-COVID numbers still being at approximately 30 per cent below target sales for QFX.

The outstanding number of recent ticket sales is sure to breathe optimism into the cinema halls and their hopes of returning to their solid pre-COVID numbers.