Tollywood, the Telugu film industry, has seen frequent ticket price hikes in recent years. Pushpa 2 took this trend to another level by introducing premium pricing for premiere shows, with ticket rates going up to around ₹1,000.
Even though Pushpa 2 was a profitable film even before release, many are questioning the intention behind such massive ticket hikes by the production house, Mythri Movie Makers. When one big film changes the pricing pattern, the entire industry tends to follow it. Unfortunately, this strategy brings more negatives than positives.
Huge Ticket Prices Are Reducing Footfalls
High ticket prices have become a heavy burden for audiences. In addition, online bookings are often opened very late, which further reduces theatre footfalls. Because of this, distributors are struggling to understand the real craze and box office potential of films.
If movies are sold at reasonable prices with affordable ticket rates, many of these issues can be avoided. Despite the hikes, overall collections are not increasing. In fact, several films released in the past—before such hikes became common—earned more than recent films. The main difference is the sharp drop in ticket sales.
The strategy of buyers trying to recover their entire investment within the opening weekend has turned out to be one of the worst approaches.
Who Really Benefits from Ticket Hikes?
It is unclear who actually benefits from these steep ticket prices. Audiences are unhappy, the government is facing unnecessary legal issues and negative publicity, and distributors say that theatre footfalls are being affected. Even producers have admitted that frequent hikes are harming the industry.
This raises a big question: for whose benefit is the industry going in circles? Hopefully, the industry will come together and hold discussions with the government to find a permanent solution—either by revising ticket prices fairly or by allowing additional shows.
At the same time, the government should take a clear and consistent stand and create a system where every film does not have to seek special permission for ticket price hikes.
