The state government of Maharashtra is allowing cinemas to open in Maharashtra when the expectation was that cinemas would remain shut in Maharashtra through Diwali. The state of Maharashtra is the highest contributor for Hindi and English films which gives more chances of new content hitting cinemas over the next few weeks.

Cinemas in many states have been open for around 3 weeks but as the films being screened are old films from last year and early this year there has not been an audience. In this pandemic situation there will be a doubt about the footfalls of a tentpole film so old films have no chance to get an audience. 

There was fresh content in West Bengal in the week of the Durga Puja with new Bengali films and they managed to get some footfalls but the final results in terms of numbers do not look encouraging. This is down to the pandemic as footfalls are down and on top lower ticket prices to encourage more footfalls. 

The opening in Maharashtra will mean plans can be made to attempt new Hindi and English releases. Despite the order allowing cinemas to open in the state there will be few cinemas actually opening as they dont really have anything to screen. Its a catch 22 situation as cinemas cant really open without new films and new films will only come if there is an audience so it will be a slow process.

The wait is for Tenet which should come before the end of the year and this film could tell where the market stands especially in the big metros which would have had a demand for this film in a normal scenario. The film has grossed $350 million worldwide till date which is a good result. The expectations would have been $1 billion plus in a normal scenario but getting even 35% of that total in this sort of pandemic which has practically halted the world is a great result.