PVR enters Sri Lanka with a 9-screen property

MUMBAI: India’s leading film exhibition company PVR Cinemas has entered into the Sri Lankan market with the opening of PVR Lanka in Colombo on Friday.

PVR has collaborated with the Shangri La Group to launch the new nine- screen property, which includes two luxury cinema formats – PVR LUXE and one kids’ format PVR Playhouse.

Ajay Bijli, chairman and managing director, PVR, said, “Entering Sri Lanka was part of our business strategy for FY 19-20 and I am happy we have been able to make it happen. The socio-cultural similarity between the two nations makes the scope for business growth opulently clear. The vision has been to introduce new concepts and make regional content more accessible for the audience in Sri Lanka. The Indian film industry has grown exponentially in last few years and has a global fan base that we aim to cater to through innovation and expansion.”

The property spreads across two levels with an area of 38,454 sq. ft. and a seating accommodation of 1,176 audiences.

Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, joint MD, PVR, added that the market dynamics in Sri Lanka are very similar to that of India, which helped the company to decide on the market.

“Sri Lanka is also a very nascent market at this time from cinema exhibition point of view with only single-screens or two-screen theatres. They watch Tamil, English and Hindi movies and the economy is strong and growing,” he told ET.

He added that the company has signed lease for another seven-screen property with a local real estate player, and the property is expected to open in December next year.

With the launch, PVR now has a total of 809 screens at 171 properties in 69 Indian cities and Colombo.