India theatre chain PVR Inox's loss doubles as Bollywood movies flop

BENGALURU (Reuters) - PVR Inox, India's largest multiplex operator, reported a first-quarter loss that more than doubled on Friday due to fewer big-budget Bollywood releases and weak box office returns from the ones that did.

The company, formed by the merger of PVR and Inox in early 2023, posted a consolidated net loss of 1.79 billion rupees ($21.4 million) quarter, compared with a year-ago loss of 816 million rupees.

Movie releases dropped 13% drop in the quarter, PVR Inox said. Analysts have said that India's general elections and the popular Indian Premier League cricket tournament led to Bollywood releasing fewer Hindi movies between April and June.

Moreover, movies that were released, such as "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan", "Chandu Champion" and "Maidaan", did not fare well at the box office.

"The number of blockbusters also declined sharply this quarter, with only three films crossing the 1 billion rupee-mark compared to seven last year," said PVR Inox, which operates 1,754 screens across the country.

This hurt its two largest avenues of revenue -- movie ticket sales and food and beverages.

Ticket sales, which account for nearly half of total revenue, slid 14.5%. Food and beverages sales, which comprises 33% of the total, fell 6.1%.

As a result, PVR Inox's overall revenue fell almost 9% to 11.91 billion rupees.

Hollywood offered no respite either, as the industry saw fewer releases due to delays from a writers' strike last year.

Hollywood content has been delayed by four to eight months due to the strike, said Karan Taurani, an analyst at Elara Capital. ($1 = 83.6910 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)