PVR Cinemas launches its 1st global multiplex in Sri Lanka

PVR Cinemas, the largest film exhibition company in India, has ventured into the global market by launching its first multiplex in Sri Lanka.

Situated at One Galle Face Mall in Colombo, the multiplex chain has launched the nine-screen property in collaboration with the Shangri La Group.

Ajay Bijli, Chairman and Managing Director, PVR Ltd, said, “While as a company, we’ve always focused on domestic consumption in India, we saw a huge potential to build a high-quality multiplex in Colombo while exploring the location. It seemed like a marketplace similar to India and not a risky proposition in terms of investment or price points.”

“The movie viewing patterns of Sri Lanka were quite similar to those of South India, where people watch films in multiple languages. Sri Lankans too are accustomed to watching movies in Sinhalese and Tamil, besides English while many of them also consume Hindi with subtitles,” he added.

The new multiplex in Sri Lanka spreads across two levels with an area of 38,454 sq ft and a seating accommodation of 1,176 audiences.

Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Joint Managing Director of PVR Ltd, stated, “We feel very happy to be able to bring PVR’s offerings to Sri Lanka. The market dynamics in Sri Lanka are very similar to that of India which helped us design our product with much more ease. The love for Indian content is huge here and we are aiming to offer a rich and diverse experience to the cine buffs.”

At present, PVR has a screen count of 809 at 171 properties in 70 cities across India and Sri Lanka.