Akshay Kumar mentioned what Bollywood could do to bring audiences back to theatres, and talked about reducing the costs of a movie outing, including actors’ fees and production costs.
Akshay Kumar is one of the first Bollywood stars to tackle the high cost of film vacations in India right now. The actor admitted that the film industry needs to ‘dismantle’ the existing system and ‘start all over again’ to win back audiences. He stressed the need to reduce the cost of film outings and said he also wanted to reduce his fees for the same.
Akshay attended a movie session with fellow actor Ram Charan on the last day of HTLS 2022 on Saturday. Akshay talks about what the industry is doing wrong, mentioning why Hindi films have not been working at the box office for the last one year. He said, “What is happening, according to me, is that things have changed. Audiences want variety. This is what we have to sit down and try to give them. It’s not the audience’s fault for not coming, it’s our fault. We have to give them what they want. We need to rethink that. We must dismantle what we have made and start again. Think about what kind of movie they want to watch. I want to start completely different. And I started doing the same. What happened during the pandemic was that their choices changed rapidly. ”
He addressed what the industry can do to reduce the cost of movie outing. “There are many other things that not only actors but also producers and theaters have to do. I want to reduce my prices by 30-40%. Theaters need to understand that this is recession time. Audiences have limited money to spend on entertainment. You can’t spend that much on it. “Everything has to change,” he said, “and it’s not just theaters. We have to work on my cost, the cost of making a movie. Everything needs to be fixed.”
The Indian film industry has experimented with reducing ticket prices at various stages this year, mostly with success. In September, many theaters across India slashed all ticket prices to a flat ₹75. It saw a 1000% jump in footfalls on the day, selling out several shows across India. Many movies reduce ticket prices during Navratri again after a week. Trade pundits say that increased attendance at theaters due to lower ticket prices is a good way for exhibitors to lure audiences back to theaters.
