Bengal cinema theatres hope for turn around with release of 3D movie

Single screens and multiplexesof West Bengal, which have been reeling under the COVID-19pandemic for months, are hoping for a turn around with the allIndia release of a 3D movie on February 5.

The movie, ''Monster Hunter'', will be released in 50theatres, both multiplexes and single screens, in the state,film distributor Satadeep Saha said.

Directed by Paul W S Anderson, the English languagemovie starring Tony Jaa and Milla Jovovich has been dubbed inthree Indian languages including Hindi.

All cinema theatres were badly hit due to very pooraudience turnout since the facilities opened in October due tothe COVID-19 situation and restrictions on occupancy numbers,said Saha who is also the owner of a single screen.

''We are definitely expecting good number of footfallsas there are reports that the central government has liftedthe 50 per cent cap on occupancy in movie halls. We hope thatthe state government will also issue a notification in thisregard soon,'' he told PTI.

During the Kolkata International Film Festival heldearlier this month, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeegranted permission to have 100 per cent occupancy in theatres.

But no notification has been issued till now.

Navin Chokhani, the owner of the single screen'Navina', also expressed hope that ''Monster Hunter'', which isbased on a video game, will trigger a surge in the turnout ofaudience.

''With raised occupancy limit and such big timeproductions, the situation will change for the better. But weneed Hindi film producers to come up with big releases now.

Only Bengali and English releases won't do,'' Chokhani said.

Arijit Dutta, the owner of 'Priya' cinema, said thattill there are big time releases from producers of Mumbai andKolkata, there will be no drastic change of the presentsituation.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)