Cinema halls across Karnataka to voluntarily shut down from April 23

Yesterday, the theatre owners in Mysuru announced that they would all shut down because of the rising number of Covid cases. Today, following suit, cinema halls across the states have decided to mostly remain shut from April 23 for the same reason. This also is a decision taken because the state has cinema halls operating with just 50 per cent occupancy and hence no big Kannada film is opting to release because of the same reason.The last big release, Yuvarathnaa, too got barely a week of full occupancy in cinema halls and the makers instead decided to release the film directly on a streaming platform soon after that.
Other big releases and some of the smaller but popular releases too chose to defer their trip to the cinema halls in anticipation of the cases coming down soon and want to hit the screens only when there will be 100 per cent occupancy in the theatres.
The exhibitors across the state have hence voluntarily chosen to shut down till the situation improves. The president of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce Jairaj D R says, "This is currently the most practical and logical move and there was no need for any discussion or long debates on this. No big film wants to hit the screens. One of the films that released last week, Krishna Talkies, also decided to opt out of cinema halls. Right now, it is important that we support the government's plan on ensuring there is a drop in cases."