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On the evening of Saturday January 30, the Union government put out a directive that cinema halls can run with 100% occupancy. And as expected, it led to a wave of cheer among exhibitors, trade and industry at large. Post-lockdown, cinema halls were allowed to open from October 15. However, they were told to operate at 50% occupancy. Hence, alternate seats were asked to be left vacant. The exhibition sector was constantly persuading the government that running theatres at half the occupancy was not feasible. Bollywood filmmakers, too, shied away from releasing their mid-sized and big-ticket films in such a scenario as they feared losses. But with the 100% occupancy being allowed, trade is already abuzz that very soon, a slew of announcements of release dates of biggies are going to take place.