India Theater Crisis: If a person wants to make good use of his free time, then most of the people like to watch movies. However, nowadays it is the era of OTT, so there are many people who prefer to enjoy movies at home rather than going out and watching movies in theatres. But, there was a time when there used to be long queues of people outside the theaters, people used to wait for the release of films on Friday. But, now this picture has completely changed. One reason for this is the decreasing number of cinema halls. Multiplex culture, OTT platforms, expensive tickets, rising operating costs and declining viewership led to the closure of thousands of theaters in the country.
Be it Bollywood or any other language, there are many films which earn better in foreign countries like China and America than in the country. Many film stars have also raised the issue of fewer theaters across the country and have talked about the loss of Bollywood. If this is understood through data, then according to the report, in the 1990s, there were about 25 thousand single screen theaters in India, but now more than 20 thousand of them have been closed and only about 5,500 are somehow fighting for survival. Meanwhile, the Central Government has started trying to give a new direction to Indian cinema. To ease the process of opening cinema halls across the country, the government has sent uniform cinema rules to the states.
Before the government takes any initiative, let us understand what this whole matter is-
- Number of people watching the movie in the theatre- India’s population is more than 140 crores, out of which if we talk about a survey, it has been told that more than 15 crore people like to go to theaters and watch movies. The figures can be compared in such a way that it shows good growth since the Corona epidemic.
- How many cinema halls are there in India? According to industry data available till July 2025, there are about 17,698 theaters in India. These include both multiplex and single screen. Nearly 20,000 single screen theaters have closed in the last 30 years.
- Earnings of Indian films abroad- ‘Dangal’ made historic earnings in China and is still included among the highest-grossing Indian films abroad. RRR received an excellent response in Japan, America and many other countries.
Earning more in China than in India
The amazing thing is that if we take any one film as an example, then a video was surfacing on social media. In this video, when some people from China were asked about Aamir Khan’s film ‘Dangal’, they did not know about this film. But, the surprising thing is that the film did amazing business in China. The reason for this is that the number of theaters in China is high, which has a huge impact on the earnings of films. According to the information, there are more than 80 thousand theaters in China. Accordingly, if the earnings of the films there are compared, then it will always be higher than the Indian films.
earnings of indian films
Aamir-Shahrukh also have a statement
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan also spoke on this issue. He said, “The biggest problem of cinema halls in India is their low numbers.” According to him, there are about 10 thousand screens in India, while there are about 40 thousand screens in America and about 80 thousand screens in China. He believes that this is the reason why the theater business in India is not reaching its full potential. Shahrukh Khan had said, “Today, watching movies is gradually becoming limited to big cities only, because both theaters and tickets have become expensive.” He believes that low-cost and cheap cinema halls should be built in small cities and towns, so that more and more people can watch movies on the big screen at a lower cost.
Only 2% of the population watches theaters
Aamir Khan also said an important thing on this issue. He told that out of about 10 thousand screens present in India, about half are in South India and the other half are in the rest of the country. This means that a Hindi film usually gets only about 5 thousand screens. The actor also said that even in a cinema-loving country like India, only about 2% of the population watches the biggest hit films in theatres. He raised the question that where are the remaining 98% people watching films.
The figure decreased from 25 thousand to 6 thousand.
According to old data of the Film Federation of India, there were about 10,167 single screen theaters in the country. The highest number of single screens is in Andhra Pradesh (2,809). This is followed by Tamil Nadu (1,546), Kerala (1,015), Uttar Pradesh (970), Karnataka (950), Maharashtra (504) and Telangana (485). However, according to the research of former cinematographer Hemant Chaturvedi, there used to be about 25,000 single screen theaters in India in the 1990s, but now their number has come down to about 6,000 or less.
Condition of theaters in India
Comparison of earnings of China-India-America
If we compare it with the earnings of films, India’s highest grossing film in the year 2025 was Dhurandhar, which had earned Rs 1000 crore. The highest grossing film in China last year was Ne Jha 2, which earned more than Rs 14,000 crore at the box office. Talking about America, Zootopia 2 had made a great earning, which is approximately Rs 4 thousand crores in Indian rupees. This huge difference in the collection of the highest grossing films clearly shows the lack of theaters.
Why is there a decline in cinema halls?
- With the rise of OTT and multiplexes, people no longer watch every movie in theatres.
- Social media reviews decide the fate of a film on the first day of its release.
- Due to increasing expenses (electricity, tax, projector, sound system) it is becoming difficult to run a single screen theatre.
- Due to lack of good content, audiences are reaching theaters only for selected films.
China increased screens 9 times in 9 years
China has worked rapidly on both its theater network and ticket prices in the last one and a half to two decades and this became the biggest reason for its box office success. In 2009, there were only 6,323 cinema screens in China, whereas there were about 12 thousand screens in India. But by 2018, China increased this number to 55,623 screens, making access to theaters easier for most people in the country. Whereas in India this number has been decreasing. On the other hand, if we talk about ticket prices, there is not much difference between the pricing systems of India, China and America. On the contrary, cinema halls in India will start looking expensive.
Where, how many theatres?
What steps is the government taking?
The central government wants to make the rules for opening cinema halls uniform across the country, so that the process of building new theaters can become easier and faster. Currently, due to different rules of each state, it takes a lot of time to get approval. To end this, Model Cinema Regulation has been sent to the states. Also, a high-level committee has been formed under the chairmanship of famous lyricist Prasoon Joshi, which will prepare a roadmap for the development of the Indian film industry. The government aims to open more theaters even in small towns and rural areas and strengthen the film industry at the global level. But the big question is that when old theaters are closing down, will opening new theaters really change the picture?
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