Horton Hears a Who! is one of three kids’ films releasing today

An imaginative elephant who discovers a city in a speck, a young boy who chances upon a mysterious egg and one half of a twin who stumbles upon brownies and goblins. It’s been a while, but the city screens have finally relented to the demands of kids. This Friday, as many as three English films for children — Horton Hears a Who!, The Water Horse and The Spiderwick Chronicles — are arriving at the Calcutta multiplexes.

And it’s only the start. With The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Bhootnath — Bollywood’s share of the pie — releasing soon, it’s one grand children’s party out there and every kid is invited. “The films are so timed to cash in on the post-exam period and the summer holidays,” says Vikas Syal, the general manager of INOX (Forum), which is running a total of nine daily shows of the kids’ flicks.

But why even before the schools have gone on vacation? “We get a lot of block bookings only when the schools are open,” says a spokesperson for Fame Cinemas. “And once the schools close, it’s time for the families to come in with the kids.”

No wonder the parents are enthused. “You can hardly take children to the regular Bollywood films and so I am definitely taking my kid to at least one, if not all the English films,” says Poushali Mittal, mother of six-year-old Vandita, a student of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

Making most of the moment, INOX is giving out activity books to those who buy a ticket of The Water Horse. No wonder, everything from birthday bashes to weekend parties are being planned inside the movie theatres.

“There is not much pressure at school now and so we can watch as many films as we want,” says nine-year-old Adhiraj Mukherjee of The Heritage School.