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The demands of the digital age are leading movie theatres in Oman to reinvent their operations and services
Nazia Khan

It is a business whose death is predicted with just about every digital advancement. But movie theatres have managed to fight off the multiple onslaughts that home theatres, quick DVD releases, Internet movie downloads, and video games, among other avenues of digital entertainment, have consistently dished out. Theatre managers attribute the steady increase in footfalls, above all, to the magic of watching movies the way they are meant to be watched – on larger-than-life screens in an environment that, for the duration of the film, blocks everything else out. As Varsha Ahuja, manager - marketing and promotions, Oman Arab Cinema, points out, "There's really no replicating the entertainment that you experience in a movie theatre." She adds that ticket sales for Al Nasr Cinema and Al Shatti Plaza, run by Oman Arab Cinema, have increased by 30-40 per cent over the last year.

Film journey
The theatres in town – Al Bahja Cinema, Al Nasr Cinema, Al Shatti Plaza, Ruwi Cinema, and Star Cinema – cover areas from Ruwi to Qurm to Seeb. Combined with their seating capacities (See box: Cinema Scope), and the Arabic, English, Hindi and Malayalam movies they play between them, they provide a fair range for audience. But there was a time, about a decade ago, when there were more theatres than there are now. In the time of mono-sound, it was open-air theatres that flourished. Raj Hingorani, now general manager, Al Bahja Cinema, who managed many of the open-air theatres in the past, provides more details about them. "Ramlat Al-Ghafa ran these cinemas in Ibra, Sur, Fanja, Izki, Nizwa, Bahla, Ibri, Seeb, Barka, Rustaq and Sohar, among other places. They could seat around 200-300 people." While there was an enclosed booth for the projectionist, the viewers sat on plastic chairs under an open sky. Business was good but the open-air theatres were phased out when the digital era came.

Now, of course, movie theatres have been transformed. Dolby Digital, DTS (Digital Theatre System) and Dynamic Digital Sound have become the norm. Theatre owners want to provide comprehensive entertainment options for their audiences. And it is that pursuit which drives decisions about where theatres are located, how tickets are priced, how many shows are played, and who the target audience is. Says Husain M V, manager, Ruwi Cinema, "Our ticket prices are RO1.5 for Hindi movies and RO2 for English movies. The distribution charges are greater for English movies and that is what makes for the difference in pricing."

Adds Ahuja, "Al Nasr plays only Hindi movies and caters to an Asian crowd looking for affordable entertainment in a convenient locality. Al Shatti, where English and Arabic movies are played, caters to an upmarket crowd, which has a greater disposable income. Unless it is a really huge Hindi movie, we don't play it at Al Shatti." Tickets at Al Nasr are priced at 600bz, RO1.2 and RO1.5 respectively. Meanwhile, Al Shatti has a flat rate structure of RO2.5.

At Al Bahja Cinema, where about six shows are screened everyday, it is English movies that are played more than other languages. Hingorani informs that this is because their duration tends to be less than two hours. "We can have more shows of English movies in a day because of their shorter duration. When we increase the number of shows, business definitely goes up. Also, people have a greater choice."

Movie model
Choice is primary among the features that movie theatres have to offer in order to keep their customers loyal. To add value to their basic offering, theatres like Al Shatti Plaza have an amusement park in the complex to keep young children entertained. And Al Bahja Cinema is located within the Markaz al Bahja shopping mall, making for a double dose of entertainment avenues.

While the 'cinema within a shopping mall' concept is not new, it has taken its time to get to Oman. Hingorani sees more of the concept in the near future, particularly because of the benefits for theatre owners as well as theatre audiences. "The main advantage of being located inside a mall is the family crowd. Also, our theatre exits open directly into the basement parking. After they watch a movie, audience can get straight to their cars."

Husain informs that theatres see maximum occupancy on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, which, together, make up the extended weekend. "When it comes to English movies, the action and horror genres do well in this market. Hindi movies with big stars do good business as well. King Kong ran for two months here as did the Aamir Khan starrer Rang De Basanti."

But for every blockbuster that gets to Oman and does well, there are several small, independent movies that simply doesn't release here. Responds Ahuja, "Any movie that releases in the Gulf region releases in Oman as well, subject to censor board approval. But certain Hindi movies don't release here. The reason for not bringing these Hindi films here is that they cater to a very small market. And if the film does not do well commercially, it makes no sense to release it. After all, we need to recover our costs if we are to bring the films here and screen them."

To the fact that there are a good number of movies that release in Dubai but not in Oman, Husain says, "You cannot compare the Oman and Dubai markets. There's a lot of floating population in Dubai, which adds to the market there." But Ahuja sees the market in Oman growing along similar lines, particularly with the ongoing boom in the tourism sector.

For theatres, working in a market that is steadily evolving, the cost and operations scenario is bound steadily to its distributors. Fifty per cent of what a movie makes goes to the movie distributor. Of the rest, ten per cent is payable as municipal tax. Other expenses for the theatre include lease rates, staff salaries, transport and film clearing. The distributors for theatres in Oman include Al Nisr Films, Gulf Films, Italia Films, Phars Films and Empire International. The more popular the movie has proved in other markets, the more prints that movie theatres in Oman demand. Once movies have played here, the prints, and the posters, as well as other publicity material, all go back to Dubai, where the regional offices of the distributors are generally based.

Theatre revolution
All over the world, cinemas are setting precedents for a new age of entertainment collaborations. And live sports broadcasts at cinemas and renting out theatres to corporates for their events are just some of the initiatives that Oman is experiencing as well. For those who want to view their 2006 FIFA World Cup matches on the big screen, Star Cinema is the place to go. The price for watching the daily matches? A very reasonable RO1.5.

Ahuja informs that Al Shatti keeps having special screenings for clients, where they have their own invitees. "We have such screenings once or twice a month. Sometimes, the screenings are movie and product related. Like DHL was associated with Mission Impossible III, so they had a screening for themselves. And Volkswagen had a screening for Herbie Fully Loaded."

Al Bahja Cinema and Ruwi Cinema provide telephone booking, where tickets are reserved by phone and have to be picked up 15-30 minutes before a show begins. But it's a feature Al Shatti Plaza has done away with because the experience was not very encouraging and sometimes led to problems when patrons arrived late. But to cater to the convenience of moviegoers, the theatre is planning on putting in a POS (Point-of-Sales) so that a customer can just swipe a card and get a ticket, without having to stand in a queue. There's a plan to bring in loyalty cards as well. Meanwhile, for all theatres, online ticket sales will be an option only when payment gateways open in the sultanate.

Also on the cards are more foreign film festivals, although theatre managers concur that the market for such films is not substantial. Often, the business generated from them doesn't reach breakeven point. But as Hingorani puts it, "Cinema in itself is an entertainment and advertising medium." And what a film festival, like the one held in Oman in January 2006, does is introduce and popularise the host country and its movies and theatres to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, for all the challenges, including movie piracy, that theatres encounter, the fascination that cinema lovers possess for the medium endures. In turn fuelling the business of the theatres. As Husain concludes, "People who want to watch movies a certain way will always come to the theatre."