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Malawi cinema fails to get a nod

An empty cinema hall captured on Monday evening
An empty cinema hall captured on Monday evening

There was a time when watching cinema was everyone’s wish, but not today if poor patronage at Cine City Cinema at Chichiri Shopping Mall in Blantyre is anything to go by.

Do you remember Apollo Cinema?

Certainly, today’s generation is exposed to modern television sets, latest movies illegally downloaded from Internet sites and cheap video showrooms, but watching a movie at a cinema remains adventurous.

Cine City Cinema has been in the country for four years now but despite being at an accessible place, it continues to register very poor patronage.

During The Nation’s visit on Monday, not more than 20 people were in the 261-seat auditorium.

“There is no business for cinema in Malawi, we receive very few people and sometimes none,” said Gilbert Chiyambuka, the centre’s control manager.

Chiyambuka also revealed that the centre was designed to show two movies at once, but only one auditorium is used. On Monday, Cine One was supposed to show Despicable Me 2, but was closed because no one showed up to watch it.

When asked why is this the case, Chiyambuka said one reason is the lack of full-time public transport to enable people travel at night.

“Most Malawians rely on minibus transport but they do not operate 24 hours. For instance, in Zimbabwe, public transport operates around the clock and patronage at cinemas is very good. Most Malawians do not understand the concept of cinema. When they think about entertainment, then it is about going to the lake or going to a music show,” he said.

Cine City started operations in December, 2008. Currently to watch a movie adults pay K2 500 (about $6) while children pay K1 500 (about $3).

The cinema shows animated cartoons, comedy, action and drama movies.

It takes its movies from a South African cinema company Ster-kinekor.

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7 Comments

  1. The main reason that the cinema is always empty is because the tickets are way too expensive. The owners are not sensitive to the price preferences of customers. Make the price affordable, and customers will come.

    1. i guess they also look for profits and to pay bills, so to clain tht its expensible itsnt fair to some extent, bt the industry isnt much advertised, itsnt knwn by many pple. Publicity matters in any case,,

  2. I agree with Nni that publicity matters a lot in any type of business and not necessarily the price of tickets as suggested by anonymous. I remember growing up in Ndirande and Zingwangwa Townships during the time of Apollo Cinema and that time we only had one Radio Station which was MBC Radio 1 and again we had only two newspapers which were the ‘Daily Times and the weekend newspaper the popular Malawi News.’ We had No Tv station, No Cell Phones and No internet but Apollo Cinema enjoyed good publicity that time from MBC Radio 1 and people used to patronise the place. But now that we have several radio stations, plenty newspapers, and even Tv stations then publicity should not be a problem at all. And I have observed that the use of these cell phones in Malawi to most people is only limited to making a call, receiving a call or sending and receiving SMS. a cell phone is a very good and important garget for advertising your business. All what you need is to enter a contract with these network providers and upon your agreement they can be sending your adverts across the board and just imagine how many people can receive and read that text message at one time and at the same time know about your business? This is not only about the cinema but I am also just also talking in general.

  3. Yes, its poorly advertised. and again I had suggested to the operators if they would considr running the place as a multi purpose hall. That is, being able to cater for other forms of entertainment. In that way pple will get to know appreciate the films on offer as well.

    I strongly believe that the second option can really translate the business fortunes of that place.

  4. Regarding profits and bills to pay, it is simple math and elasticity of demand:

    a ticket worth MK2,500 x 20 customers gives revenue of 50,000 per sitting
    a tick worth MK1,000 x 100 customers gives revenue of 100,000 per sitting.

    Most bills are fixed, ie not variable on the number of customers and some costs are also fixed irrespective of the number of sittings. I am fairly sure that if the price drops and they get people to be able to afford going, they would make larger profits. I am also fairly sure that lack of advertising is not the problem. Every one in Blantyre knows that there is a cinema at Chichiri mall, and Chichiri mall is very well patronised.

  5. Anonymous has said it all. Essentially 2,500 is not a lot of money in other nations but is alot in Malawi. In US they pay up to 12 bucks to watch some of the newest movies. However, our economy is poor. Business wise, by reducing the price of the ticket to say 1500 or 1000 per sitting, a lot more can afford to even forgo their lucnh , just to come and watch one movie. Eventually people will get used to going to cinema, such that even if the price starts to gradually increase, many will still patronize the cinema. Don’t aim at making a kill for a start, make cinema a thing one can not afford to forgo for a start and profits will trickle down just like that. BTW have you considered opening one in Lilongwe? It would be interesting to see how people respond to cinema in LL than BT. My feeling has always been that ppl in LL are willing to pay more for a service than those in BT.

  6. 1) The prices are way too high for the Malawian pocket and
    2) That Cinema hardly does anything to publicise their services.
    As Anonymous has illustrated above, its all about the numbers. K600 x 300 seats (full capacity of both theatres) = K180, 000 at any one given time (We are talking of every 3 hours, 2 to 3 times each day). Cine City could do this if they wanted to. After all, investment was already made, the infrastructure is there, now they just have to ensure they get their returns on their investment. With regard to my suggested pricing, I for one would be very unwilling to pay very high prices to see movies that I already have on my laptop, or which a friend who is only a phone call away has. In this day & age, one goes to the Cinema for the experience and as a fun outing and not because they cant see the movie elsewhere. But the more it costs, the more I am prompted to forgo that experience.

    And has the Cinema ever thought of carrying out promotions? Simple things like leaflets could be handed out at the Chichiri Mall which is never short of people. Very cheap, yet could be very effective

    One has brilliantly pointed out that we have no public transportation to cater for late hours, but this does not mean movies cannot be shown in the afternoon hours. In fact, Cinemas are built to show all day round, and therefore, scheduling of what type of movies are shown at which time of day and on what day of the week would be very critical here. For example, students will be more free on weekday afternoons. Family movies could be shown on weekends, & movies that appeal to working professionals who have more flexible means of transportation could be shown at night through the entire week.
    All I’m trying to say is, it can be done. However, it all depends on the seriousness & willingness of Cine City to strategise to ensure their investment is a profitable one in the context of the country in which their operating. In my , Cine City should not claim defeat before they have even tried to make their business work.

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