What's holds up e-ticketing and box office in Bangladesh?

Just as you hear film ‘X’ is not running well, you also hear there’s a long queue to watch film ‘Y’. Sometimes there’s also news of tickets being sold out on the websites of the handful of theatres in the country that have installed the digital ticket system. When it comes to Bangladeshi films, there has been a huge line visible in front of single screen as well as multiplex theatres for the last few years.

You’ll see such queues in front of Modhumita Cinema Hall or Star Cineplex in Dhaka as well as in front of Roma cinema hall in Gaibandha or Chayabani cinema hall in Mymensingh. But, even after a good audience response there’s no accurate record on the sales of tickets worth how much money have been sold? The box office collection of a film is not revealed even after a month of the film being released, let alone days or weeks. Producers just declare a random figure and the movie buffs have to be content with that.

Though it has been five decades since Bangladesh's independence, a box office has not been established yet. India however had launched a box office two and a half decades ago, stated officials from several top production houses from the country. In their opinion, there used to be no transparency of collection for the lack of a box office there.

There was the scope of evading income tax also. Launch of the box office has brought transparency in collection records. There’s almost zero embezzlement. All the records of how many tickets have been sold, how many seats remained vacant and how much money have been collected can be found within minutes of the show being started. Then the numbers are shared with the producers and distributers.

Box Office India, Comscore Movies and Sacnilk are some of the credible agencies among the ones working with film ticket sales in other countries like India, US and Canada. Whenever a movie releases, these agencies provide round the clock collection records of that.

Film analysts say that Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA), the organisation of producers and distributers in India has played a pioneering role in launching the box office there. Though there’s no shortage of film-related associations in Bangladesh, no initiative to launch the box office has been noticed on their part.

It’s difficult to launch the box office on someone’s individual efforts. There remains the scope to present a one-sided report from being influenced. So, some of the people involved with the film production business in Bangladesh and India believe there’s the need for government monitoring as well. According to most of these people, the producers, distributers and theatre owners have to work in coordination.

An overflow of audience has been noticed at the theatres to see films like ‘Proyotoma’, ‘Toofan’, ‘Rajkumar’, ‘Shurongo’, ‘Hawa’ and ‘Poran’. The films have also earned labels like ‘blockbuster’, ‘hit’, ‘superhit and ‘bumper hit’. However, there is no accurate record of the collection or how many people watched the film.

In the absence of an effective box office system, the producers do not get their fair share of revenue in many cases. Even if they do, they don’t disclose the figures. Since there remains a scope to evade tax in this, the government loses revenue. Earlier, there was noticeable crowd of people at theatres to see films like ‘Debi’, ‘Aynabaji’, ‘Dhaka Attack’, ‘Monpura’ also.

There has been a sort of obscurity centering box office in Bangladesh since the beginning. It seems as if the producers are bound to accept whatever data the theatre owners provide them with. There’s a ticket counter in one corner of every single theatre and that’s known as the ‘box office’. Every record from this counter is open to everyone everywhere around the world, but in Bangladesh it seems to the other way around.

After speaking to people involved in the film sector and looking into the matter for a few days it was found that there is a ‘box office’ in the country and reports are also being published every day.

Some of the theatres have employed e-ticketing systems alongside manual sales. Those reports are being sent to the producers as well. Now the only concern is that those reports are not being disclosed in the public. The benefits of not revealing these collection records are being enjoyed by both the theatre owners as well as the producers.  

Some of the film analysts say that the producers are saying at the beginning of the shooting, “I have invested this many millions in my film.” But, there remains no proof of that. Then again after the release, they are saying, “I have made this much money.” Loopholes for huge amount of money are being created here.

Meanwhile, some producers are seen paying less to the artistes on the excuse of meager collection. Depending on the situation, they are taking illegal benefits also. When the accurate records of this collection would be revealed, the revenue from this sector will be visible to the government. The government will receive revenue from that and the two parties also do this to evade taxes.

Zahid Hasan, owner of the production and distribution company ‘Tiger Media’ told Prothom Alo recently, “All sorts of tickets starting from bus, train to airplanes are sold through apps. All the data is centrally stored in one place. The same method should be followed in case of film tickets also.”

“The ministry of information and broadcast, producers, distributers and theatre owners together can call tenders from those interested in working with box office. Some third party should be appointed who will develop an app or software with which people would be able to buy tickets online as well from the counter. This way the records will be available in one place,” he added.

Zahid also said, “The theatre owners also would not have to send records separately to the producers. The process will be that, as a producer I will receive an ID and password from the representative of the theatre company if they exhibit my film. Entering that ID, I will be able to see all the data of how much has been the collection from which theatre. Launching these systems is no big deal in the present time. There’s a lack of transparency in records from the tickets being sold in person. And, there’s no alternative to selling tickets online for launching the box office.”

SVF and Alpha-I Entertainment were the producers of the recent hit ‘Toofan’. Managing director of Alpha-I Entertainment Shahriar Shakil said that government initiatives are needed to launch box office and e-ticketing systems. If the government just sets a rule that whether a single screen or a multiplex, everyone has to come under the supervision of a central server, the complexities will be reduced to a great extent. He also believes that a public-private partnership is required in this case.

Speaking about his own experience on the matter of e-ticketing system in multiplex and single screen this producer said, “While there is a sort of transparency regarding ticket sales in multiplex, there’s zero transparency in single screens. This requires a solution right now. The government has to make a rule that the tickets must be sold through e-ticketing system. If the tickets are bought at the counters, the data of that must also be put into the central sever.”

“What will happen then is that we will be able to have the records of how many tickets of a show was sold, 1,000 or 550 and how much did the tickets cost, Tk 250 or Tk 500, within seconds. The producers would be able to see the records right away after the show has been started. The benefit of having government involvement is that they will be able to know exactly how much revenue that film has generated. And, that amount of revenue will ensure what amount of income tax the government will receive,” he added.

Iftekhar Uddin Nowshad, owner of one of the country’s historical single screen theatre, Modhumita, said, “The matter of making the box office collection public is not in our hands. If we make sales of Tk 10, we give them Tk 10 exactly. If we make Tk 500, we give them Tk 500.”

“They should be the one disclosing the box office collection. The producers would announce, 'Our film has made this much money.' They would collect sales reports from more than a hundred theatres or give the responsibility to someone else. This doesn’t even require a central server, it requires goodwill only.”

Meanwhile, Shahriar Shakil believes the main obstacle towards e-ticketing system is the policy. If the government clearly states in its policy that whether it’s the data of online or in-person sales, the whole information has to be included in the central server and that’s it. That same central server system will be considered as the box office.

Owner of production house Action-Cut Entertainment, film director Anonno Mamun believes the matter of implementing box office system is time consuming.

He said, “Whenever I travel abroad, I buy movie tickets on the ‘BookMyShow’ app. I can see how many seats are vacant or how many have been booked already directly on the app. The process is just like the way we buy train tickets from Sheba.com website. The matter is that 80 per cent of the theatres here don’t even have any system to sell tickets online.“

“These systems have to be developed. And it requires nothing but just computers, printers and internet connection for the central server system. The most important requirement is the sincere efforts of the producers, distributers and the theatre owners,” he added.

Shahriar Shakil said that the amount of logistic support he has is enough to provide at least 95 per cent if not 100 per cent accurate details of all the theatres throughout the country. But, that’s no issue for the government. He said, “If the government wishes, we can also help. Besides, the responsibility should go to those who can provide the government with the best service for the lowest cost.”

Chief executive for international distribution company Swapno Scarecrow in Bangladesh, Shaikat Salahuddin put it like this, “If the exhibiters association, single screen and multiplex forum get together and give the responsibility to a company by taking consent from the producers and distributers, they can also primarily publish an accurate sales report.”  

Owner of Indian production house SK Movies, Ashok Dhanuka told Prothom Alo on 21 October, “Theatres here sends the ticket sales information from every day directly to the distributers. Those records go to the IMPPA office. The revenue records are calculated there by drawing up the collection records of every single film. There’s no way of cheating. It is possible in Bangladesh also if the producers, and the distributers work together.”   

* This report appeared in the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Nourin Ahmed Monisha.