Will Cinema Theatres Survive the Streaming Era?
16 Jun 2025 6:10 PM IST
India makes more movies than any other country in the world. A lot of us also grew up with a regular habit of going to the cinemas and catching the latest film.
But, COVID changed that. Cooped up in our homes, we got addicted to OTT platforms, and never really went back into movie theatres. Even the Hindi film industry’s success metrics changed – before, a 100 crore movie was a box office success. Now, that benchmark is at 50 crore rupees.
I’m your host Kudrat Wadhwa and you’re listening to The Signal Daily. We don’t do hot takes. Instead, we bring you deep dives into the how and why of consumer trends.
In the latest episode of The Signal Daily, we speak to Ishaa Soni, a film buff whose cinema habits have drastically changed since COVID. What’s going on there? What will make her, and consumers like her, return to the cinema halls?
The Core produces The Signal Daily. Find us wherever you get your favourite podcasts. To check out the rest of our work, go to www.thecore.in
NOTE: A machine transcribed this episode. A human has looked at this text but there might still be errors. Please refer to the audio above, if you need to clarify something. If you want to give us feedback, please write to us at [email protected].
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TRANSCRIPT
Kudrat (Host): When I was a teen — maybe 13/14 – the Tier 3 city I grew up in finally got a multi-screen cinema. The seats were clean, and the popcorn was yummy. My family soon started going there almost every other evening, and the multiplex became a big part of our lives.
India has a strong film industry – it makes more movies than any other country in the world. We Indians also idolise film actors. I mean, we’ve all heard stories of Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan fans traveling to Mumbai from all over the country, just to catch one glimpse at these celebs.
Indians also love going to the cinema – though our cinema-going habits have changed since 2020, when COVID first hit. A 2024 report by media consultancy Ormax found that between 2020 to 2023, there was a 16% decline in how many people watched one or more movies at the cinemas. Even the Hindi film industry’s success metrics have changed. An Economic Times report said that before 2020, Bollywood saw a movie that earned 100 crores in the cinema as a box office success. Now, that benchmark has gone down, to 50 crore rupees.
Kudrat (Host): I’m your host Kudrat Wadhwa and you’re listening to The Signal Daily. We don’t do hot takes. Instead, we bring you deep dives into the how and why of consumer trends.
In today’s episode, we speak to Ishaa Soni, a film buff whose cinema habits have drastically changed since COVID. What will make her, and consumers like her, return to the cinema halls?
Ishaa Soni: I'm Isha. I am 38. I live in Delhi and I love movies.
Kudrat (Host): Ishaa said that since she was a kid, she would go to the movies…
IS: All the time. All the time. And, uh, and it's, uh, it used to a lot of fun and, uh, and we would watch movies. We love having popcorns, nachos, everything during the movies. We love the entire experience of going to the theater and watching the movie on, on a big screen with, with the sound effects, with, uh, with comfortable seating.
And, um, and yeah, we still have the whole expe rience.
Kudrat (Host): Isha said she and her brother would watch all new cartoon and kid movies at Paras Cinema in Nehru Place. BTW, India’s largest multiplex company, PVR-Inox, noq owns that cinema, and they’ve converted it into a large IMAX screen.
After Isha and I nerded out about my favourite kid adventure film – it’s Jumanji, fyi – she told me that her relationship with the cinema continued as she got older. She and her partner, who’s now her husband, went to the cinema during their courtship period.
IS: It's a, during courtship, I, I think we watched a movie almost every other weekend. We, we had to, this is a part, very, very vital part of our relationship was going to the movies. Okay.
It was for the first time.. holding hands, sharing popcorns, you know, in a, in a new relationship. It's, it's a lot of fun.
Kudrat (Host): You get the point.. Isha loved going to theatres, it was a deeply emotional experience for her.
But now, she says that she barely goes to the movies.
IS: I think COVID was a, was a major, um, turning point for us. Yeah. Um, the status were shut. And, um, and all of us while, you know, while all of us had had, um, OTTs earlier, we, we used to watch Netflix at home.
But, um, it. COVID happened and there were lockdowns and we couldn't go out. There were no new, no new movies coming in, but that time over, already up their game, they came out with lots of, uh, new movies, new content, new series, and we were home and we had nothing to do.
So we watching tv. We, we loved watching, uh, different kind of things. It, it, it basically opened gates for, uh, for new content. So we movies, we were watching similar kind of movies. And here, you know, the stories were so different.
The storytelling was so different.
Kudrat (Host): Now, OTT platforms came to our TVs before the pandemic – Hotstar came out in 2015. Followed by Netflix and Amazon Prime in 2016. But, most Indians would watch TV shows on OTT, but not films. When the pandemic hit, and none of us could go out, these OTT platforms also began releasing movies. Here’s Ajay Bijli, the Managing Director of PVR-Inox, talking to Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath about this:
IN1
Clip → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MKKPsepeZQ
Kudrat (Host): You see, going to the cinema is a habit like the habit of going to the gym. Once you lose it, it’s very challenging to get it back. OTT is what we prefer now.
IS: Uh, we love watching ott, it a ma Majorly at a convenience. Mm. If we want to watch it only for two hours tonight, we can only take out two hours, watch it or resume it tomorrow. You know, we can do that.
Yeah. Also time saving. We don't have to, we don't have to leave the house 15 minutes early. As per the Showtime, it gets very, very convenient. We watch whenever you want to watch. We could have a drink in our hands and watch it while, while having a glass of wine,
Kudrat (Host): For Isha, the convenience of OTT, the fact that you can watch movies from home, pause them if you’re feeling sleepy and then resume the next day, is a big sell. That’s also what the other people that The Signal Daily spoke to said.
Maggie Stephen: नेम मैगी मैगी स्टफ ओके सो हेव यू बीन वाचिंग मूवीज रिसेंटली नो नोट एटी अल्ल सो व्हेन डिड इट चंगे ओर यू नेवर गोइंग थिस थिएटर अभी तो ओ स्टार्ट हो गया ना तो तब से बस ओटीटी पे ही है अच्छा ठीक है तो मतलब पहले जाते थे आप जब ओटी नहीं था। रेगुलर रेगुलर होव आफ्टन ट्वाइस आ वीक थ्राइस आ वीक ओके नौ यू डोंट गो। सो बट ओ आई मीन इट टेक सोम टाइम फोर थे मूवी तो कोम ओन ओ सो यू डोंट माइंड वेटिंग। No because I have a kid so I don't have time to come here
Kudrat (Host): In addition to the fact that it’s more convenient to watch movies at home, consumers say they don’t want to go out because the prices at multiplexes like PVR and Cinépolis are also too high.
IS: but theater foods are a, it is very, very expensive. B, the quality is really, really bad.
If two people go, you'll end up spending 2000 rupees on just food, food and drinks.
Kudrat (Host): Traveling to a multiplex, parking your car is annoying. Going to the cinemas is also expensive. If you’re going out with your whole family on the weekend, you’ll end up spending thousands of rupees on just popcorn and soda.
Putting on a movie in the comfort of your homes is much easier.
But, does that mean that going to the cinemas will become totally obsolete?
The consumers I spoke to said no. Watching a movie in the cinema is an experience of its own – lights, sound, action. There’s some particular movies, like action movies, that only really feel good in a cinema.
Isha said that she would go to the cinema for a movie that she expects to be good. She recently watched Mission Impossible on the big screen. She said she could’ve waited for it to come on OTT platforms but she wanted to watch it on the big screen for the experience.
Aarish Qureshi and Mohammad Aatiq said the same thing.
Aarish Quershi: नेटफ्लिक्स और अमेज़न ठीक है बट जो सिनेमा पर देखने का मज़ा है तो वो तो सिनेमा पर ही आता है क्योंकि फैमिली वगैरह घर पे भी एन्जॉय करती है बट एक आउटिंग भी ज़रूरी है उसके लिए सिनेमा का मुकाबला नहीं है।
Kudrat: So do you go to the cinemas regularly?
MA: Not regularly sometimes often? हम्म।
Depend on movie so depends on the movie तो मतलब before covid before OTT were you going? more regularly
आह बेसिकली मेरे को जो एक्शन मूवीज मेरे लिए अकॉर्डिंगली मैं देखता हूँ तो वो जब मैं इंटरेस्टेड होता हूँ तभी जाता हूँ
Kudrat (Host): That’s also what Akshay Rathie, a film distributor and exhibitor told The Signal Daily.
AR: People can be a lot more selective about what they'll watch and where they'll watch it.
Okay. So people are very clear that they want to watch. The more intimate, the more robbo, the more talky kind of films on streaming. Yeah. If you watch a Lapataa ladies in a cinema hall versus if you watch it on your mobile phone or a tv, yeah, there's no consumption experience card difference that comes into play.
Yeah. But try watching a Tripler on a mobile phone. It's just not the same experience. Try watching an Avenger N game or a machine Impossible on a mobile phone. It's not the same experience. Yeah, you need to experience that Dolby Atmo speaker and I access screen or a big screen. You need to have 400 people around you clapping and cheering and whistling for you to enjoy that movie optimally.
Yeah. So what will happen is that those kind of things will start making a significantly higher frenquency for cinema halls. Yeah. And movies like a Lapartaa ladies, like A 12 Fail, which did well in cinemas. Exceptions, but movies of that genre and that grade and that size and scale will mean more of them for the streaming platforms.
Kudrat (Host): Akshay said that he doesn’t think cinemas will disappear but that people will just become more selective with what they watch on the big screen. Movies made for the cinema will continue doing well – that’s also what we’ve seen in the past couple years. Action movies like the SRK-starrer Jawan and Pathaan have done very well – earning over 1000 crores each!
But the other kinds of movies, the ones that are more verbose, will only really work on OTT platforms.
Kudrat (Host): Isha’s experience also reflects that – she went to the cinema to watch Mission Impossible, but not the Rajkumar Rao-starrer, Bhool Chuk Maaf.
She also told The Signal Daily that another thing that would help her go back are cheaper F&B options and cheaper tickets in general.
Afterall, she desperately misses the cinema experience too.
Kudrat (from interview): How do you feel, do you miss that emotion of going to the cinema?
IS: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. The entire feel of going to the theaters, uh, the smell of popcorn, the excitement of watching trailers…
Kudrat (Host): The OTT boom isn’t the first technological innovation that’s disturbed cinema halls. First, it was VHS, and then DVD and then TVs. All these technological updates have impacted the cinema business. But, they did not fully kill them.
After all, going to the cinema isn’t just about watching a movie. It’s also about getting out of your house, and immersing yourself in a visual and auditory experience. Consumers still see the value in that, which is why we are seeing movies that are more suitable for big screens doing particularly well.
But, people don’t mind watching the more verbose movies – you know, your Rajkumar Rao and Ayushman Khurana starrer social message type films – at home. The prices of tickets and food and beverages are so high at multiplexes, that the economics of going out so often just doesn’t make sense.
Kudrat (Host): That’s all for today. You just heard The Signal Daily. We don’t do hot takes. Instead, we’ll bring you deep dives into the ‘how’ and ‘why’ on consumer trends.
The Core produces The Signal Daily. Follow us wherever you get your favourite podcasts. To check out the rest of our work, go to www.thecore.in.
If you have feedback, we’d love to hear from you. Write to us @[email protected].
Thank you for listening.
