The larger than life movie screen

Dr. Amar Saxena

Deepak Pandey

On 25th August 2019, a small town Sullurpet became house to India’s largest movie screen.
Qube cinema an end to end digital cinema technology and solution provider introduced its first
EPIQ screen, which is touted as South Asia’s largest.

The launch was attended by Telegu star Ram Charan who saw the trailer of ‘Sahoo’ on the grand
100 feet wide and 80 feet height screen. The screen has cutting edge technology and is loaded
with high-end 4K RGB laser projection. It has a Dolby Atmos immersive audio and a flat 1.89
aspect ratio.

This is a new immersive cinematic experience in premium large format by an Indian brand.

History of Indian cinema and cinema halls

The Indian history of cinema goes back to 1896 when the first film shot by Lumiere Brothers
were shown in Mumbai. However, the first motion picture of India is “The wrestlers” which was
shot by Save Dada in 1899 at Mumbai’s hanging garden. After that Father of Indian cinema,
Dadasaheb Phalke released “Raja Harischandra “ in 1913, which was the first full-length film of
India.
In 1907, Kolkata gave India its first cinema hall. Founded by Jamshedji Framji Madan
Elphinston picture palace was later named to Chaplin Cinema. This was followed by the
construction of Royal theatre in Mumbai in 1911, Electric Madras in 1913 and Regal Cinema in
Delhi.
These were single-screen theatres having a huge seating capacity from 500 to 1000.
Entertainment Industry in India
As per Statista, the Indian cinema industry was valued at Rs 180 Billion and is estimated to reach
up to Rs. 260 billion by 2024. India has been the world’s largest producer of films since 2007.

Deepak Pandey (Batch 2018-20) a marketing student has prepared the case under the supervision of Dr.
Amar Saxena, Area Chair Marketing and Markaholic Chair of IFMR GSB at Krea University. This case is
only for the use of Markaholic the marketing committee of IFMR GSB for events conducted by the
committee.
India sells around 1.9 billion movie tickets every year and is the world’s top ticket seller
followed by China with 1.7 billion tickets sold yearly.
Even after these huge numbers, the biggest challenge for the Indian film industry is the low
occupancy rate. The penetration is also very low with just 8 screens available per million of the
Indian population. As per economic times report domestic theatrical revenue crossed Rs. 100
billion in2018 and constituted 58.1% of total filmed entertainment revenue. Digital or OTT
rights of films grew by 59% to Rs. 13.5 billion. OTT and digital rights constituted 7.73% of total
filmed entertainment revenue. India has more than 30 OTT players thus a long debate of screen
vs OTT continues.
As per a KPMG report, as many as 80% of Indians who have subscribed to OTT platforms say
all their entertainment need are met by OTT platforms and as many as 38% of them are
considering giving up traditional media for entertainment. On an average of 8 hours of OTT
content is viewed across age groups in India per week and 87% of these contents is consumed on
smartphones. These numbers are set to increase in India with growing internet connectivity and
penetration of smartphones. Currently on an average Indian smartphone consumes 9.8 GB data
per month and the number is supposed to double by 2024. (Source: Economic times)
Qube cinema
In 1986 Media artists private limited was started in Chennai, which was later renamed as Real
Image Media Technologies Pvt Limited. In 2017 the company was renamed to Qube Cinema
Technologies private limited.
Qube cinemas provide end to end digital cinema technology and solutions. With a well-
established product line, Qube cinemas have pioneered several technological innovations in the
cinema industry. It has about 7000 installations across 48 countries globally and has digital
cinema operations in 4000 screens across India, which is almost 42% of Indian screens.
“The company was instrumental in bringing computer-based digital non-linear editing to India
with Avid Technology, transforming the industry and forever changing the way Indian film and
television programs were edited. The company subsequently brought digital cinema sound to
India with DTS and helped Indian cinema leapfrog a generation, form mono sound directly to
digital”.
The company inaugurated its grand screen in Sullurpet which comes under a large screen format
and is a premium large screen.
Location of the largest cinema
Qube Cinema is located at Sullurpet, a small town in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. The
town is 85 km’s from the nearest metro town of Chennai which falls in Tamil Nadu. There is no
multiplex in a radius of 50 km’s from the location of the Qube cinema Sullurpet. There is only
one single screen theatre at Sullurpet which only features Telegu movies.
The below table shows the areas located near Qube cinemas, the distance between them and the
population of that area. Qube Cinemas is located 5.6 km from the local railway station and there
is only auto available as a mode of transport from the station to the cinema hall.
There is road transportation available from the above-mentioned areas to Qube cinemas. All the
areas mentioned in the below table are rural ones and have a lower literacy rate. Most of the
people are agricultural laborers and a few work as main workers (permanent wages).
Tada and nearby areas of Sullurpet are high industrial zone. Many companies have their
manufacturing units in Sri City and also along the expressway connecting Chennai to Nellore.
ISRO is also a big institution in Sullurpet. These institutions have employees from different
states of India.
Sullurpet is well connected by both road and rail. The expressway connecting Chennai and
Nellore passes through Sullurpet. It is also one of the biggest markets in the radius of 20 km
where people from nearby towns like Tada and villages come to make their daily purchases.
After Sullurpet, Gudur and Naidupeta are big consumer markets. Nellore is the nearest big city
on the north and Chennai, metro in the south from Sullurpet.

Location Distance Population

Tada 18 kms 4,220
Gummudipoondi 41 Kms 32,665
Sullurpet 6 Kms 27,504
Nellore 91 Kms 5,00,000
Gudur 51 Kms 73,350
Shrikalahasti 59 Kms 80,056
Naidupeta 30 Kms 45,055
Aruru 23 Kms 2,472
Yellasiri 38 Kms 3,459
Question

1. Why did Qube cinema start in Sullurpeta and what would have been their goals?

2. What is the predominant reason for audience to come to Qube cinemas Sullurpet?

3. What are the causes that bring people to premium large screens?

4. What should be the ideal size of Cinema hall for a large screen format?

(Your answer should be based on demography, location and drive that make people walk in for
cinema halls in spite of OTT availability. Also mention your choice of location in heart of city or
suburb like Sullurpet)
Exhibit 1
Exhibit2
Number of screens = 2
Screen Seats class Price Seats class Price Shows Total
1 2
Big Screen 546 Rs.200 110 Rs. 100 1 Rs.1,20,200
Small Screen 105 Rs 150 30 Rs. 100 4 Rs 27,750
TOTAL Rs 1.47,950

*This data is as per shows running on 11/02/2020

*The number indicates the total revenue for a single day only by sales of ticket when the hall is
Housefull.