WAVES 2025: Aamir Khan calls 8-week theatrical-OTT window "FAULTY": "Whether your film is good or bad, this business model DOESN'T make sense"; Ajay Bijli reveals, "Global BO dropped from $42 billion pre-Covid to $32 billion; 40 lakh seats in cinemas in India; 2024 occupancy was just 16%"

Day 2 of WAVES Summit 2025 began on a rocking note as Aamir Khan attended a session along with Dinesh Vijan of Maddock Films, Namit Malhotra of Prime Focus, Ajay Bijli of PVR Inox, Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment and Hollywood producer Charles Roven of Oppenheimer (2023) fame. Aamir Khan and Ajay Bijli raised some interesting points on the cinema sector and a lot more.

 

WAVES 2025: Aamir Khan calls 8-week theatrical-OTT window "FAULTY": "Whether your film is good or bad, this business model DOESN'T make sense"; Ajay Bijli reveals, "Global BO dropped from $42 billion pre-Covid to $32 billion; 40 lakh seats in cinemas in India; 2024 occupancy was just 16%"

 

Ajay Bijli revealed, “Pre-pandemic, the global box office business was 42 billion dollars. Now, it's 32 billion dollars. So, it still hasn’t reached the pre-Covid levels.”

 

On this, Aamir Khan said, “I believe that we have very few theatres for the size of the country and the number of people living in India.”

 

He then told Ajay Bijli, “My data is usually wrong and so, you please correct me!” Aamir continued, “In India, we have around 9200 screens. In the USA, which is ¼th of our population, they have 40,000 screens. Hence, they are way ahead of us despite having less population. China has 90,000 theatres! Out of roughly 10,000 theatres in India, half of them are located down South and the rest are for the rest of the country. So, Hindi films only have around 5000 screens.”

 

Aamir Khan added, “Our biggest hits over the years have had theatrical footfalls of 3.50 crores people. That’s 2% of our population. So, in a country which is recognized as a film-loving one, only 2% of the population watches our biggest hit in theatres. So, where is the remaining 98% of the population watching the film?”

 

Aamir then exulted, “My belief has always been that we need to have a lot more theatres in India. There are vast areas which don’t have a single theatre. That is what we should invest in. India has a massive potential. It’ll be realized when you have a point of sale across the country. For example, if I am living in the Konkan area, there’s no theatre there. I can hear about the film; I can see the chatter online. But I can’t watch it, unless I go piracy. Legally, it is not possible for me to watch a film.”

 

Ajay Bijli clarified, “We need to make cinemas but in pockets where cinemas are not available. There’s a death of cinemas but the gap is not that large. When you talk about China, it has 10,000 locations while India has 8,000 locations. So, the location gap is not too much. The 5,000 screens up North have 1,000 seats each. Overall, India has got about 40 lakh seats already installed. We play 1 lakh 80 thousand shows on a daily basis. In 2024, at Rs. 134 ATP, cinemas ran at 16% occupancy. Only 88 crore people watched films. Hence, post-Covid, we have seen a huge fall.”

 

On the OTT vs theatrical debate, Aamir Khan stated, “Earlier, films would be released a year later on satellite. Then, it was reduced to 8 months and then 6 months. I had a choice – either I can watch the film in cinemas or I can wait for 6 months to watch it on satellite.”

 

He then said, “The eight-week window is too small. You are killing your own business. It’s like saying that buy a Maruti car and if you don’t, I’ll drop it at your house after 4 weeks! Why will you then buy it? In a price-sensitive country like India, this matters a big deal. And then we wonder why our films are not doing well! You are in a way telling your audience not to come. That’s why they are not doing well.”

 

He ended his answer by saying, “Some believe we are not making good films. That is a separate topic. Whether your film is good or bad, this business model doesn’t make sense. If I make a good film, this business model still doesn’t make sense to me. Currently, it’s a faulty business model.”

 

Also Read: BREAKING: Move over dubbing and subtitles; Ranbir Kapoor-Yash’s Ramayana to feature lip-synced English, Spanish, Japanese versions via cutting-edge AI – Namit Malhotra makes a FASCINATING revelation!

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