Multiplexes in India will likely lose up to 3 billion rupees in the June-quarter as an ongoing tussle with movie producers has led to almost no new releases at a time when the slowdown has cut footfalls, analysts said.

Marketing and distribution of all new Bollywood films has been suspended and analysts estimate multiplex revenue losses of 2.5-3 billion rupees in the first quarter.

The average cost of running one multiplex is about 2-3 million rupees, of which the operators can only recover about a fifth of the cost, Vishal Kapur, chief operating officer of Fun Cinemas, which has 19 properties across India, told Reporters.

"... we can recover only about 4-5 lakh rupees a month... In this past month, we have lost close to 4 crore (40 million rupees)," he said.

Producers in the world's most prolific movie industry are demanding a 50 percent share in box-office revenue while multiplex owners favour a performance-linked model based on a film's budget and star power, resulting in a deadlock that has seen almost no film releases since April 4.

Moreover, the average occupancy level has fallen to 10-15 percent since the deadlock, analysts and officials said, hitting revenue by 30-50 percent in April-June, according to a report by Angel Broking, which has a neutral rating on multiplex stocks.

Slowing consumer spend and poor content in 2009 badly hit domestic box office collections, which account for almost 70 percent of filmed revenues, prompting film-makers to demand half of the revenues from multiplexes, analysts said.

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