Sometime in 2020, producer D Suresh Babu made a bold prediction: He stated that major cities in India would be witnessing the mushrooming of mini theatres in housing societies/residential complexes. He further added that small screenings with a maximum of 50 seats will come into existence on a big scale. This will be like a drive-in theatre for a few practical purposes, he argued.
Suresh Babu's prediction has not borne the test of time. During the pandemic, when people were home-bound and OTT was starting over, many analysts did presume that a new wave of physical spaces would sprout in cities across the globe. With normalcy returning fast and OTTs penetrating deeper and deeper, mini theatres never took off. They are redundant too.
Drive-in theatres and mini screens, among others, are not that feasible in a price-sensitive economy like ours. China has about one lakh theatres, while India has just 10% of that number. Meanwhile, India's real-estate costs continue to skyrocket. The only players who are able to afford new multiplexes are well-established ones with a corporate-style leeway.
