World Cup will hit Iranian box office: expert

TEHRAN, June 7 (MNA) -- The head of board of directors of Iran’s Theater Owners Association has said that box office receipts are expected to drop sharply in Iran during the 2010 World Cup, which will be running from June 11 to July 11.

“Like previous editions, this popular event will produce negative effects on the box offices receipts of Iranian films onscreen,” Mohammad Ashrafi told the Persian service of Mehr News Agency on Sunday.

He said that solutions should be provided to ameliorate the negative impacts of the event on Iranian cinema.

“Screening popular films and broadcasting movie commercials during the television peak viewing hours may help the cinema keep its audience during the World Cup,” Ashrafi stated.

Last week, the director of the Azadi Cinema Complex in Tehran proposed that Iranian movie theaters screen live the World Cup games in order to draw people to cinemas.

“We don’t like to see people being imprisoned in their homes for the football games,” Reza Saeidipur said in a press release.

“So we submitted a proposal to draw all family members to the cinema and each one can watch a film or a football match,” he added.

According to Saeidipur’s proposal, watching the football games would be free.

Saeidipur said that he is waiting for the approval of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and police.

Based on an unofficial estimate, Iran has 50 million football fans.