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PVR INOX runs movie theatres across India, selling tickets, snacks, and on-screen advertising to filmgoers.
PVR INOX is India's biggest cinema chain. It owns and operates multiplexes in malls and neighbourhoods across the country, and its core job is simple: get people off their sofas and into a dark room with a big screen, then sell them a ticket, a tub of popcorn, and a Coke while they're there.
The company makes money in three ways. It sells movie tickets, which is the headline business but not the most profitable part. It sells food and drinks at the concession counter, where the margins are far fatter than on tickets. And it sells advertising — on-screen spots before the movie, posters in the lobby, and branded screens — to companies that want to reach a captive audience of moviegoers. That advertising business is essentially free money once the screens are already running. The chain was formed by the 2022 merger of PVR and INOX, two rival multiplex operators that decided to stop fighting each other and combine instead. The deal made PVR INOX by far the largest cinema operator in India, with roughly 1,700 screens across more than 350 cinemas. That scale matters: a bigger chain gets better terms from Hollywood and Bollywood studios, spreads its advertising sales across more screens, and can afford premium formats like IMAX and large-format screens that smaller rivals cannot.
Cinemas are a tough business to love. Attendance depends on whether the movies are any good, and streaming services have made people pickier about leaving the house. PVR INOX has responded by pushing premium experiences — recliner seats, gourmet food, live cricket and concert screenings — to give people a reason to pay for the big screen. The bet is that a great night out can't be replicated on a phone, and that India's growing middle class will keep showing up.
Saved answer · last researched 15 Nov 2026