[blackwasp]

Picture Time, an Indian start-up company that shows movies at remote locations using mobile theatres has raised an investment of Rs. 25 crore. The recent investment comes from a group of high net worth individuals (HNIs) led by Ajay Relan, Founder-Chairman of CX Partners. This investment is after the start-up managed to secure initial seed funding from Picture Time Chairman Rohit Chand, Ashish Gupta and Sanjeev Agrawal of Helion Ventures, Asim Ghosh (ex-Vodafone India CEO) and Abhinav Sinha of Eight Road Ventures.



Established in 2015, Picture Time uses truck based mobile theatres that can be setup in 2.5 hours. A fireproof inflatable canopy that can house up to 150 people is used as a theatre. It gets amenities like air conditioning, comfortable seating, sound insulation, floor lights and neon signs for exits. A backup power generator is also on hand. The movie screen also gets Dolby surround sound and uses Internet of things (IOT) for projecting the movies. The company claims same picture and audio quality as compared to regular movie theatres. These can be used for educational outreach programs, private screenings, exhibition and corporate events.



The truck can also double up as a micro ATM, an e-commerce solution provider or a citizen service provider. Currently the company has deployed these trucks in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha along with plans for operations in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh among others. The recent investment will be used to increase the company's fleet to 100 mobile theatres by March 2019.

Source - Hindu

Link to the Team-BHP News

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing! Hadn't even heard of them until very recently. Quite an innovative concept, bringing cinema to smaller towns & villages where there are no proper theatres. Check out some screenings here.

Read somewhere that they currently have 10 trucks. The funding round you speak of could be used to add another couple of them. The fact that they've screened hits like Sachin, Dangal & Bahubali 2 shows that movie distributors think there is potential in the model.

Profitability might be an issue? Their ticket prices would be dirt cheap, and the cost of transportation + setup could be high. Just a guess - happy to be corrected.

[ksameer1234]

The concept isn't new to India. Such movie theaters that can tent up in villages had been there decades ago. The idea died due to advent of television and whatever remained was buried by DTH, piracy, mobile internet and fast 4g! Why would villagers want to pay for watching movies when they can watch the Friday release on their smartphones on Saturday morning?

Yes, the charm of big screen is there but social issues of watching movies with friends/families/neighbours would probably be overpowering. I would stick my neck out and say that I don't expect Picture Time to survive once they have burned they cash from investors!

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

I would stick my neck out and say that I don't expect Picture Time to survive once they have burned they cash from investors!

Originally Posted by GTO

Profitability might be an issue? Their ticket prices would be dirt cheap, and the cost of transportation + setup could be high. Just a guess - happy to be corrected.

1) When a new movie is launched, theatres have to shell out more to the production house. But after a month or so, theatres have to pay a lot less (20 to 30% of 1st week price). Looks like Picture Time will be mostly showing superhit older movies.

2) Cost of transportation + setup will probably be less than cost of setting up a theater in small town/village. Capital expenditure will be low. Another advantage is that if business in a town is bad, they can always pack up and leave.

3) Ticket prices are likely to be much lower than PVR/Inox rates but occupancy rates are likely to be much higher. After all, a big truck rolling into a small town and setting up shop is likely to garner lots of attention. PVR has an occupancy rate of just 30%.

4) PVR earns some 10% of its revenues via advertising. If Picture Time can scale up, advertising revenues will help

5) 30% of PVR's revenues come from sales of junk food and beverages. Picture Time too should earn significant revenues from this category.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Looks like Picture Time will be mostly showing superhit older movies.

By which time, the movie would have streamed on TV as well.

2) Cost of transportation + setup will probably be less than cost of setting up a theater in small town/village. Capital expenditure will be low.

What about damage to the dome, cost of DG set, cleaning up after the show? Capital cost may be low but operational expenses may be quite high.

3) Ticket prices are likely to be much lower than PVR/Inox rates but occupancy rates are likely to be much higher.

People watch movies for free on smartphones. Later anyways on TV as well. I really doubt occupancy rates once the initial novelty part is over.

5) 30% of PVR's revenues come from sales of junk food and beverages. Picture Time too should earn significant revenues from this category.

Are we expecting villagers to pay for atrociously over-priced snacks? Such foolishness is reserved for us city-folk.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by GTO

. Check out some screenings here.

.

That's the area I was born in. Noamundi to be precise and chaibasa being around 50kms away. It's a TATA STEEL township.

This concept used to be there in 80s till mid 90s while we were kids. There used to be huge walls in every township on which the movies used to be projected. I remember watching 'hum aapke Hain kaun' there once as a kid

That region lacks in theatres and malls. This concept can work if the movies are showcased within a couple of weeks of release. Pricing should not be much of an issue as being a mining belt folks are pretty loaded, but then that doesn't mean you charge like Bangalore malls which is atrocious

[SmartCat]

I'm usually a cynic of new business ideas, but this one seems alright. Because the business has low capex and is easily/slowly scalable (8 trucks, 20 trucks, 50 trucks etc). Unlike e-commerce websites, this will not burn too much cash. Within a short period of time, the investors and promoters will know if the business model works or not.

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

People watch movies for free on smartphones. Later anyways on TV as well.

All your arguments have weight, except this one. Going by the financial numbers of PVR/Inox, movie theatre business is booming. Both PVR/Inox have grown at 20 to 25% per annum in both revenues and profits over the past 10 years.

Also, when it comes to consumption, there is not much India/Bharat divide as you imagine - except that ticket size is smaller. So yeah, he won't spend Rs. 100 on popcorn and pepsi, but he will still spend Rs. 25 on biscuits & some oily snack.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by GTO

Profitability might be an issue? Their ticket prices would be dirt cheap, and the cost of transportation + setup could be high.

Definitely. Also, the setup will wear out with regular use and dismantling thereby increasing CAPEX significantly in the near term.
Mobile airconditioning needs a lot of power and portable power systems of that scale are heavy and thirsty too.

Originally Posted by smartcat

Because the business has low capex and is easily/slowly scalable (8 trucks, 20 trucks, 50 trucks etc).

Low OPEX but high CAPEX.

Originally Posted by smartcat

Going by the financial numbers of PVR/Inox, movie theatre business is booming. Both PVR/Inox have grown at 20 to 25% per annum in both revenues and profits over the past 10 years.

In cities, and because of the experience they provide, for a small percentage of the actual population.

People spend when they get quality, ensuring that on a mobile unit is a huge challenge, been there, done that.

Originally Posted by smartcat

So yeah, he won't spend Rs. 100 on popcorn and pepsi, but he will still spend Rs. 25 on biscuits & some oily snack.

That is what defines the unit economics anyway. How much can I mark up on pakodas sold at a hamlet anyway?


To top it all up, piracy and easy availability of movies on mobile devices has ensured that people from all parts of the country get to watch the movies a day or two after their release.

This, combined with QoS is the toughest challenge for this venture.

[akshaymahajan]

Lovely idea - however very curious about what this really means 'Internet of things (IOT) for projecting the movies'.

Seems like this was just added for the VCs

Also, see a lot of other uses for such infrastructure - schools, hospitals, etc

[agspins]

Saw something similar in Chhattisgarh last year, but couldn't click any pics as i watched it from Train. Anyways its a nice idea, would love to watch a movie in this.

[swissknife]

Mods: I am not sure if this is the place for this. Please feel free to relocate to another thread or even as a separate thread.

This seems to be an interesting delivery model. Instead of the high investment on land, building, maintenance etc., this seems to be a something of a lower investment and maintenance cost.

This initiative has been brought out by a person called Satish Kaushik. This is what he has to say.

Our love for movies is evident in the amount of money and time we spend to watch them. Be it at multiplexes in cities or cinema theatres in smaller towns, few hesitate to spend on watching movies in theatres. However, it is not so in rural India as not all villages have cinema halls, nor do they have access to the internet.


To light up the situation, film director Satish Kaushik has come up with Mobile Digital Movie Theatre (MDMT). The plan is to convert trucks into theatres that can travel across different villages in India, so that people can watch movies for a nominal price, in the range of Rs 35 to Rs 75.
A mobile theatre is basically a ready-to-assemble, easy to dismantle and carry around in a truck theatre. These theatres are air-conditioned, fire-proof and weather proof, and can accommodate around 150 people.

The complete article is here

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by swissknife

This seems to be an interesting delivery model...

Look like he's talking about this.

Established in 2015, Picture Time uses truck based mobile theatres that can be setup in 2.5 hours. A fireproof inflatable canopy that can house up to 150 people is used as a theatre. It gets amenities like air conditioning, comfortable seating, sound insulation, floor lights and neon signs for exits. A backup power generator is also on hand. The movie screen also gets Dolby surround sound and uses Internet of things (IOT) for projecting the movies. The company claims same picture and audio quality as compared to regular movie theatres. These can be used for educational outreach programs, private screenings, exhibition and corporate events.

[SmartCat]

There is one more company in this space called CARAVAN TALKIES. It is a part of NSE listed film distribution company called UFO Moviez.

Big surprise: No ticket charges. Caravan Talkies makes money via advertisements.

- UFO Moviez has invested Rs. 35 cr in Caravan Talkies
- Business growing at 40% per annum
- Investment of Rs. 15 Lakh per truck (includes projector, screen, genset etc)
- Breaking even at operational level
- 3 hour movie show has approximately 30 minutes of ads
- Operates 120+ trucks
- Audience of 250 to 1,000 people per show
- Operates mostly in North and West India. Rural South India already has enough traditional movie theatres

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7KPtGzfA7Q

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by GTO

Profitability might be an issue? Their ticket prices would be dirt cheap, and the cost of transportation + setup could be high. Just a guess - happy to be corrected.

Ad income saves the day I guess!
Getting VCs to fund this is only a fraction of the story. If this needs to sustain itself, their real pain area would be operating expenses. Especially with the air conditioning. Perhaps they can tie up with neighbouring solar power fields to buy some off the grid or generate their own power similarly.

As for the labour to install, they can hire local people to help. This will build some local goodwill by bringing in some money into the rural economy (even if it is small scale to begin with)

Originally Posted by smartcat

3 hour movie show has approximately 30 minutes of ads

That would be a pain. How would they cope with people stepping out for smoke breaks during the ads? This used to happen in single screen theaters earlier.
At some point if the ad spend doesn't translate into meeting sales targets in that region, advertisers would eventually back out. Ad income could dry up. I hope they have some backup in place for such an outcome.

Edit: *Brainwave* If it is a rubbish movie, they should think of charging money for an early exit. Considering the tripe that usually passes for movies; they would be minting money soon

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

If this needs to sustain itself, their real pain area would be operating expenses. Especially with the air conditioning. Perhaps they can tie up with neighbouring solar power fields to buy some off the grid or generate their own power similarly. As for the labour to install, they can hire local people to help.

How would they cope with people stepping out for smoke breaks during the ads? At some point if the ad spend doesn't translate into meeting sales targets in that region, advertisers would eventually back out. If it is a rubbish movie, they should think of charging money for an early exit.

Caravan seems to have low operational expenses. Their trucks are much simpler (see video). It offers an open air cinema experience, so no air-conditioning or seating issues. Caravan has tied up with 50+ rural focused companies for advertising.