By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter

The ongoing FIFA World Cup may have set the cash registers ringing across retail establishments in Qatar, but it has also taken a toll on cinemas as many people seem more interested in catching the football action live than watching a film, it is learnt.
There has been already a “significant” fall in the number of visitors at several halls since the World Cup kicked off on Thursday, Gulf Times has found out from cinema operators.
“Usually, big crowds throng the two halls at West End Park, in the Industrial Area, on weekends and many latecomers are seen returning without tickets,” said a regular cine-goer at the facility, recalling that there were hardly any people at the place late on Thursday.
An official of the company operating the West End Park halls corroborated this. He said: “Though they had anticipated a fall in attendance during the World Cup, their company did not expect the kind of massive drop that was witnessed at the two halls over the weekend.”
The official said they were expecting a further fall in the number of patrons at the two theatres at least until the second week of July owing to the World Cup. “Then, the holy month of Ramadan will start towards the end of this month and the crowds will be even thinner during the one-month period,” the official added.
Similar sentiments were echoed by an official of Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Company when asked about the World Cup’s impact on the country’s cinema business.
For instance, he said, a highly popular Malayalam movie has failed to receive ‘decent’ response at the company’s theatre at The Mall despite being a big hit back in Kerala, India. “We never thought that the World Cup would adversely affect the film in this manner. Many Indian families usually come to see movies at The Mall, particularly during the weekends.”
The official said this was the first time in many years that the football World Cup and the holy month of Ramadan would coincide. It seems the chances of crowds thronging cinemas are slim even two weeks after the World Cup, he added.
Enquiries with cinema operators who are running two facilities at City Center Doha and Villagio yielded similar responses. However, they expected the patronage to improve on days when some of the big names and crowd favourites – such as Brazil and
Argentina – are not playing.
Faced with the possibility of a further fall in revenues in coming days, at least one operator is exploring the possibility of introducing innovative schemes to lure audiences.