Hollywood saves PVR Inox as Bollywood bombs at box office

International cinema helped India's biggest movie operator PVR Inox post a rise in first-quarter revenue as Hindi films failed to bring moviegoers to theatres. The company said the June quarter witnessed a muted start, with limited releases in Hindi, but saw the highest number of Hollywood movies since the pandemic. This helped the firm log a more than 30 per cent jump in revenue from operations to 13.05 billion rupees. The box office picked up pace in May with the release of the controversial "The Kerala Story", besides "Fast X" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" from Hollywood, it added.

PVR Inox, in its second quarter as a merged entity, posted a net loss came of 816 million rupees ($9.92 million) compared with a loss of 3.33 billion rupees last quarter. It has about 35 per cent to 40 per cent market share in screenings for Bollywood movies, according to Emkay Research analysts. This came on the back of rising expenses with increased spending on food and beverages and heightened movie exhibition costs.

India's largest cinema operator -- with 1,702 screens -- has been recently banking on Hollywood's "Oppenheimer", "Barbie" to pack theatres, the combined advance sales for which were the highest for any film outside the Marvel or "Avatar" series.

"It's heartening to see the blockbuster success of unconventional movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer in India, clearly indicating that audiences choose the big screen for a unique cinema experience," PVR Inox Managing Director Ajay Bijli said.