The two releases this Friday The Batman and our own super-hero Amitabh Bachchan’s Jhund are both almost 3 hours in length. This creates huge practical problems for cinema exhibitors, as they would have to reduce the number of shows by nearly half.
A personnel from a leading multiplex who doesn’t want to be named says, “It is a good thing for theatrical business that Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi is doing so well. However the length of the film is 2 hours 32 minutes. So we already have a lengthy film from last week joining two even lengthier films from Friday. Both Bachchan Saab’s Jhund and The Batman are just 2-3 minutes less than 3 hours long. This means we will have to reduce our shows drastically.This is a luxury we call ill-afford at a time when we are just recovering from the crippling Covid blows.”
While Jhund and The Batman are just short of 3 hours length,S S Rajamouli’s RRR which is the next big release , crosses the playing time of 3 hours by a few minutes.