JOIN USCinema major INOX Leisure Limited on Tuesday announced plans to open 47 new screens across all markets in this financial year.
“We have plans to penetrate new markets, as well as reentering existing ones. Manipal, Jamnagar, Jalgaon, Magurai, Jaipur and Kolkata are some of the towns and cities where we will be opening screens in this financial year,” INOX Leisure Chief Executive Officer Alok Tandon told Deccan Herald, and added that the investment per screen is in the range of Rs 1.75 to 2 crore.
“The properties where we operate are a mix of private ownership, management contracts and rented spaces,” Tandon said.
“In a country where movies are a way of life, we are grossly under-screened with only 10 screens per 1 million people, as against 35 screens in Europe and 125 screens in the US. This gap provides us great opportunity to expand further and provide good movie experiences to newer patrons,” Tandon said.
In a strategic move, the brand on Tuesday changed the name of its multiplex chain ‘FAME’ to ‘INOX’, transforming it into the largest integrated cinema chain in India.
“FAME has a total of 102 screens under its brand. With the rebranding of all of FAME’s properties to INOX, the latter will have a total of 284 screens across 73 properties in 40 cities, in 14 states. These locations include a set of Tier I, II, III and IV cities and towns,” Tandon said.
FAME was acquired by INOX for Rs 183 crore, and their merger was completed in May this year. “We wanted to be a significant player in the Indian cinema space. With this merger and rebranding, we have been able to translate our vision into reality,” he said.