Cinepolis India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mexican chain of movie theatres, plans to increase the number of screens in India from the existing 295 to 400 by the end of 2018.

Each of these screens will have an average of 200 seats. Thus, by the end of 2018, Cinepolis will have around 80,000 seats in India, Javier Sotomayor, Managing Director, Most of this expansion will take place organically.
He said the 45-year-old Mexican major is the fourth largest cinema screen chain in the world with nearly 5,000 screens across 13 countries. “Last year, we sold 316 million tickets globally, the highest number of tickets for any individual chain.”

“We would be growing an average 30-40 screens per annum in the near future,” he saidCinepolis had operated its first screen at Amritsar in India in 2009. In 2016, it had opened the highest number of screens, 45, and also acquired seven screens of DT Cinemas from DLF Group.
As the third largest cinema operator in India, it currently operates 295 screens under the brand names of Cinepolis, Cinepolis VIP and Fun Cinemas across 33 cities in India. It also plans to expand to Tier II and III cities.

India currently has nearly 8,000 single-screen theatres and 2,400 multiple-screen ones. “Within the multiplex arena, our market share is 15 per cent, ticket share 16 per cent and box office share is 17 per cent,” he added.