Long movies push up F&B sales in Kolkata theatres – Times of India

The slew of exciting movies that hit theatres in the past couple of weeks have left Kolkata’s movie buffs spoilt for choice. As a result, housefull shows are back with a bang. But there’s a catch. Almost all movies in the current lot have runtimes close to three hours! Add the opening ads and the 15-20-minute interval, and the average audience member is spending almost 3 hour 30 minutes in the theatre. No wonder they get hungry. So, it’s not just the box office that’s raking in the moolah. The F&B counters in city single screens and plexes are doing roaring business as well.

HUNGER-INDUCING RUNTIMES

Jhund has a runtime of 2 hours 58 minutes, The Batman, 2 hours 56 minutes and The Kashmir Files, 2 hours 50 minutes. These are followed closely by Gangubai Kathiawadi (2 hours 37 minutes), Bachchhan Pandey (2 hours 29 minutes) and Radhe Shyam (2 hours 18 minutes). The soon-to-release RRR is set to beat them all with a runtime of 3 hours 2 minutes. So, who wouldn’t get hungry? “Because all these films are quite long, the audiences are eating popcorn, pizza, chaat and more and drinking beverages such as tea, coffee and cold drinks in large quantities. This has boosted the sales in the F&B counters,” said Satadeep Saha from a city single screen.
Amitava Guha Thakurta, the regional director east of a multiplex chain, couldn’t agree more. “Our food revenue contribution during this week has been an absolute delight. Sales have crossed pre-Covid levels. Though the night curfew is still in effect in Bengal, people are opting for our hot seasoning popcorns and signature food,” he said.
Echoing his industry colleagues, Sourav Bose from another city single screen said the trend has not only boosted in-house sales but is also helping vendors who have stalls outside the hall. “After a long time, it’s nice to hear the sound of chips and popcorn being munched after the interval,” he added with a smile.

COOKED FOOD IS BACK, AND HOW!

The long runtime is also ensuring that the usual munchies are not enough. And since cooked food has been allowed in the halls, people are lapping up the more filling options such as pizzas, chaats, momos, hot beverages and more. “I recently watched The Batman with my son at a city multiplex. And the film was pretty long. My son started with popcorn and nachos and went on to have a burger and a chicken sandwich. It was a slightly expensive outing, but at least the food options are much better now. There’s a lot of hot food. And I noticed that the food counters were doing roaring business, as the other screens were also running lengthy movies. So, we weren’t hogging alone,” said Biren Dash, a city-based professional, with a smile.
Arijit Dutta from another city single screen said till recently, movie-goers were not eating or drinking anything. “But that fear is gone now. People are buying food items and beverages before the show, during the interval, and even in between,” he added.

The hot-sellers*
Burgers
Sandwiches
Nachos, chips & popcorn
Momos
Pizzas
Chaats
Pastries
Tea and coffee
*Source: Single-screen and multiplex managements