World Cup games will be screened across 35 different cities

PVR Cinemas has signed a partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC), which will see PVR live screen the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 on the big screens.

As per the agreement, the multiplex chain will live screen all of India’s matches along with the semi-finals and finals. The games will be screened across India in over 75 cinemas in 35 cities, including Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. These include New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Indore, Jamnagar, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Amritsar, Dehradun, Surat, and Vadodara, amongst others.

 

 Speaking about the partnership with the ICC for the World Cup, PVR Ltd. CEO, Gautam Dutta said,

 “The big screen offers a unique opportunity to maximise the coverage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Cricket and movies complement each other as in India they are considered as two religions that unite the country.

 ‘Movie watching and cricket watching is a shared entertainment experience and when magnified on the big screen leads to an adrenaline rush from fans quite similar to a stadium.”

 

The partnership comes at a crucial time for PVR and the entire cinema industry, devastated by the Covid pandemic. Although cinemas have started to reopen gradually, only Telangana, Rajasthan, and Karnataka allow full cinemas to operate at total capacity while other states operate at 50 percent occupancy. 

 

PVR also released a statement, which read, 

 “PVR has a loyalty base of 1.2 million as part of its PVR Privilege programme, which will help leverage the footfalls of movie lovers who are also cricket fans at its cinemas.”

The partnership comes on the back of PVR’s recent partnership with NODWIN Gaming to screen esports tournaments live in their theatres.