Monday, April 28, 2008

DLF plans Rs 1,250 cr to expand multiplex biz

DLF, a leading real estate player in the country, plans to invest Rs 1,250 crore for the expansion of its multiplex business. The company has planned to add at least 500 screens in the next four to five years across the country.

DLF's entertainment wing DT Cinemas will set up a megaplex, which will have 12 screens with a total capacity of 2,500, as part of their upcoming project, Mall of India, at Gurgaon.

Expected to be one of the country's largest malls, it will cover an area of 40 lakh sq ft.

On Thursday, DT Cinemas announced the opening of their multiplex at DLF Infocity, IT Park, Chandigarh. Infocity covers an area of 1,90,000 sq ft and most of the space has been leased out. The mall will start operating within the next 10-12 days.

Kajal Aijaz, CEO, DT Cinemas, said that with the multiplex offering state-of-the-art facilities like Christie cinema projection system, excellent acoustics, wall-to-wall carpeting, extra legroom with comfortable slideback seating and push back armrests for the audience, they were eyeing about 66 per cent occupancy at the multiplex in the first year.

The multiplex with a total capacity of 786 seats has three screens, which have been imported from Harkness, in the UK.

Aijaz said that initially, ticket-booking would be provided through internet and mobile phone network. DT Cinemas plans to eventually rope in retail chains for the sale of tickets.

With DLF planning to set up another 120 malls in different parts of the country, DT Cinemas would be the chief attraction in most of these malls.

Apart from Ludhiana and Jalandhar, where multiplexes would be opened in a couple of years, the company is also opening multiplexes at Savitri-GK2, Shalimar Bagh, Vasant Kunj and Saket in Delhi and Star Mall, Gurgaon, this year, Aijaz said.

DT Cinemas will also set up multiplexes in Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa and Kolkata.

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