Unrelated old photos shared as recent pictures of empty theatres screening Brahmastra movie - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 16, 2022
Update (16 September 2022):
Another post is being shared on social media, which contains a series of images in which theatres with very few occupied seats can be seen. The post claims that these are the pictures taken during the screening of Brahmastra and claims that Brahmastra is the only film in history to earn 200 crore rupees with empty theatres. Here is the reality of these images.
Image 1:
On reverse image search of the photo, we found a few news articles with this image. A news article that appeared in the Times of India contains this image on which ‘@ BCCL 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED’ is written. This article was last updated on 24 August 2020, much before the release of Brahmastra movie on 09 September 2022. A few media outlets have also used the same image in their news articles, which can be read here and here.
Image 2:
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, we found the same photo on shutterstock.com. This is a stock image contributed by Ringo Chiu. The caption of this image reads ‘Moviegoers sitting in a socially distant seating arrangement at the AMC Theater on the first day of reopened theatres after being closed due to the COVID-19 in Burbank, Calif., on 01 March 2021.’
Image 3:
We found this image on shutterstock.com through a reverse image search. According to its description, this image was captured when ‘Cinema Halls Reopened During Unlock 5 Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India – October 16 2020.’ ABP live also used this stock image in their articles (here and here).
Image 4:
This image was used in a Hindustan Times article published on 8 March 2022; we found this by reverse image search of this photo. The image cutline mentions the photographer’s name ‘(Photo: Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times).
Image 5:
On reverse image search of the photo, we found an article from October 2020 published by India today, which contains the same image. The cutline of this image reads ‘Picture this: A film screening, with pandemic precautions, for Covid warriors and their families at a PVR theatre in New Delhi’. The same images can be seen in a few other articles (here and here).
All five images were captured much before the release of the film Brahmastra, which was released on 09 September 2022. Hence we can conclude that unrelated old images were used in this post to claim that these pictures belong to the screenings of Brahmastra.
Published (12 September 2022):
Multiple photos are being shared on social media claiming those as pictures empty theatres screening Brahmastra. These posts can be seen here and here. Let’s verify the claims made in these posts.
Claim: Photos showing empty theatre at the screening of Brahmastra movie.
Fact: The first photo was taken in 2020, amid the Coronavirus pandemic, at the Carnival Cinemas in GIP Mall, Noida. The second photo was taken on 25 August 2009, by a photographer named Beatrice Murch, inside the Teatro Presidente Alvear in Buenous Aires, Argentina. Both the photos are old and have nothing to do with the recently released film Brahmastra. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Image 1 (archived):
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found in an article published by the ‘Deccan Herald’ news website on 17 October 2020. The description of the photo states, “People watch a movie at Carnival Cinemas after it reopened for visitors, during Unlock 5, amid the coronavirus pandemic, at GIP Mall in Noida, Friday”. The Deccan Herald credited the photo to the Press Trust of India (PTI).
When we searched for further details, we found the same photo with a similar description on the PTI website. PTI published the photo with a description, “Noida: People watch a movie at Carnival Cinemas after it reopened for visitors, during Unlock 5, amid the coronavirus pandemic, at GIP mall, in Noida, Friday, Oct. 16, 2020.” Many news websites later published articles using this photo as reference. A few of them can be seen here and here.
Image 2 (archived):
This post claims it is the picture of a single person watching Brahmastra in a theatre. On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found published on the ‘Cityseeker’ website by crediting the photo to ‘Wikimedia 2009 Beatrice Murch’. When we searched to find other sources of the photo using relevant keywords, we found the same photo in the Flickr account of Wikimania 2009. This Flickr page published the photo on 25 August 2009, with the text, “Richard in an empty theatre”. In the description, it is stated that the photo was taken by Beatrice Murch.
Describing the photo license details, the Wikimedia Commons website stated that the photo was taken by Beatrice Murch in 2009, at the Seating of the Teatro Presidente Alvear in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The inside of the Teatro Presidente Alvear matches with the photo shared in the post.
To sum it up, unrelated old photos are being shared as recent pictures of empty theatres screening Brahmastra.