Claim: Capri Cinema “shuts down due to low audience after local film screenings”.
Fact: Capri Cinema was closed between 23 May to 26 May 2022 due to low audience footfall and to cut down on operating costs. However, the cinema resumed screenings from 27 May with the premiere of Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun Maverick.”
Fact or Fiction:
On 24 May 2022, Facebook page ‘People Magazine Pakistan’ posted a visual that stated, “Capri Cinema shuts due to the low audience after local film screening.”
The post was accompanied by a caption that reads, “Karachi’s most iconic ‘Capri’ cinema halts all its operations due to drastic decline in footfall after the screening of local films. The cinema stated their operational costs had exceeded the footfall! #instaupdate.”
While the cinema did remain closed last week between 23 to 26 May 2022. The claim that the cinema has permanently closed down is false.
Soch Fact Check reached out to the management of Capri Cinema. The general manager at Capri Cinema confirmed the cinema is still open and functioning.
However, he added that the financial situation of the cinema is concerning as the audience has declined. This comes after a recent Sindh High Court order, which dictated local films must get 85% screentime in cinemas.
Virality:
Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the 30-day period leading up to 31 May 2022 using the following search terms:
- “Capri cinema karachi”
- “Capri shuts down”
- “کیپری سینما”
The first search term revealed 832 interactions across 27 posts on Facebook. The second search term turned up 2,064 interactions across six posts.
On Instagram, the particular post by @peoplemagazinepakistan claiming Capri Cinema shuts down received more than 1,700 likes, whereas the third search term revealed 39 Facebook posts, which garnered more than 1,159 interactions.
Fuchsia Magazine also published an article and a video about it. While both mention that Capri Cinema would resume its functions after a closure for four days, the captions in both the cases are misleading, giving the impression that the cinema has closed for an indefinite period.
Conclusion: Capri Cinema only closed its doors for four days from 23 May to 26 May. However, it has not closed permanently.