Sunday shutdown means huge losses at plex, stores

KOLKATA: The fire, more specifically the subsequent closure of South City Mall, on Sunday dealt a telling blow to overall business at the mall, already reeling under the effects of demonetisation.
As many as 34 shows at the multiplex in South City Mall had to be cancelled, while the 134 outlets that are housed in the 650,000sq ft shopping destination, looking forward to the weekend crowds, had nothing but disapointment in store.The total losses, even by a very modest estimate, would run into several lakhs.
The loss was quite substantial for the movies. In the movie business, the first week's collection is equally shared by the distributor and multiplex owner. In the second week, the distributor's share is 42.5%.The biggest casualty due to the cancellation was Sujoy Ghosh's `Kahaani 2'. As many as 13 shows of this movie were cancelled on Sunday . The Bengal connect in the film had ensured that people had thrown caution to the wind and trooped to the theatres to watch this movie. Sunday's cancellation translated to a loss of Rs 5 lakh for distributor Mahendra Soni. “South City gave the best collection for `Kahaani 2' for Friday . We were expecting to do good business on Sunday as well,“ Soni said.
Other movies that were being screened include three shows of `Moana', and one show each of ` Antarleen', `Thammar Boyfriend', ` Arrival', `Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them' and `Cholai'. “Since my film is inspired by the controversial hooch tra gedy of Mograhat, where more than 170 people died in 20112012, most halls have refused to play it,“ said Arun Roy , the director of `Cholai'. “Sunday's cancellation is a huge blow to me,“ he rued.
Seven shows of `Dear Zindagi' were cancelled. That would translate be a business loss of approximately Rs 3 lakh.“Since we were in the second week, the distributor's loss would be approximately Rs 1.30 lakh,“ said Arun Mehra of Aum Moviez, the distributor of this movie in this region.`Benche Thakar Gaan', which was the opening film of the Kolkata International Film Festival, had two shows cancelled. “We were expecting a full house. The total business loss due to the cancellation would have been approximately Rs 90,000,“ said Pradeep Churiwal, the producer.
Subhasis Ganguli, regional director (east) INOX, said the plex was evacuated of 80 people after news of the fire broke, just as the 9am show of `Kahaani 2' had begun. “Those who had booked tickets in advance will be refunded once the counters open,“ Ganguli said. The evacuation process was quite smooth, said Anirban Dutta, who had gone to watch the movie with his wife.
Other traders, too, felt the impact. Sanjay Taneja, who runs Fundamentals Electronics from the basement, said: “My shop is stacked with electronic and electrical items. I hope water has not seeped inside and damaged the products.More importantly , today was the first Sunday of the month, on which we usually see better sales. It was a huge loss.“
A senior official of Spencer's agreed that the first Sunday of the month always registers one of their best sales. “We had expected a huge rush today, and had even called for extra manpower to tackle the rush. But the fire and the subsequent closure of the mall means a huge loss,“ he said.