Ajay Devgn's NY Cinemas cuts down target to 100 screens due to Covid pandemic and downtrend Bollywood

Actor Ajay Devgn's multiplex chain NY Cinemas has curtailed its expansion plans as the COVID pandemic and lacklustre performance of Bollywood films have taken the sheen off the business.

The company, which in the first year of its launch in 2017 planned to reach the 250-screen mark in 4-5 years, is now focusing on touching the 100-screen target.

"We targeted 30-40 screens every year to be opened pre-Covid but post-COVID we have slowed down expansion because we think a lot of things have to go back in place and have deferred our expansion accordingly. Though the initial plan was to put together 250 screens, for now, we want to achieve the 100 mark," said Rajeev Sharma, CEO, NY Cinemas, said

The impact of the pandemic coupled with the below-par performance of Bollywood is the reason for the company not going aggressive on expansion. "There are two years of COVID disaster and then the business has not picked up as expected. When we see things start picking up we will start expanding. But if everything goes well and as expected like pre-COVID times then we would look at adding 30-40 screens every year," he said.

Recent big Bollywood releases like Aamir Khan-starrer Laal Singh Chaddha made at a budget of Rs 180 crore and Akshay Kumar's Raksha Bandhan with cost of production of around rs 70 crore saw below par performance at the box office with collections at Rs 59.58 crore and Rs 45 crore respectively.

Currently, the multiplex operator has 14 screens under fit-out which are targeted to open by end of December or early January, which will take the total screen count to 40-42 by March end (2023).

The company, named after the initials of Ajay Devgn's children Nysa and Yug, recently announced the launch of a new property in Ahmedabad.

"The new property which is done with fit-out is a four-screen property. We are set to go live by end of this month or next. Roughly around Rs 12 crore was invested in the new property. And with this multiplex, we will be live with 26 screens," the CEO said.

NY Cinemas will deliver 35 more screens next calendar year. "For this, we will start accepting sites for fit-out by October-November this year and these are targeted for opening in June-July till December next year. So in total, there will be 22 screen additions this year and 35 screens next year. By FY23-24, we will have 75 screens operational," said Sharma.

He added that with 20 screens that the company is going live with, the investment is approximately Rs 50 crore.

With tier II and III cities in focus, the company is looking at markets including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

"Focus is tier II, III and maintaining a presence in tier I. So, we do not do multiple cinemas in tier I in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru but we keep our existence with 3-4 locations within each city. Ajay's (Devgn) vision is to bring the audience closer to films and film stars of their choice. We intend to increase viewership of movies by spreading in tier III, IV cities," he said.

The theatre chain will be opening in Haryana soon and expanding into Punjab and Gujarat, and by end of this year it will start exploring some of the southern cities.