Advances for Dhurandhar: The Revenge opened in India about two hours ago, and the response has been outstanding right from the start. The Ranveer Singh starrer has already sold more than 30,000 tickets, worth over Rs. 1.25 crore nett. Of this, 20,000 is from PVRINOX. For the record, this is TWELVE DAYS before release, when generally the advances for Bollywood films open three to five days prior to release.
At present, the bookings are open only for the paid preview shows on March 18, and that too limited to the national multiplex chains like PVRINOX, Cinepolis and Moviemax. Some more cinemas have jumped the gun, and others are expected to join the fray as the day progresses. The strategy appears to be to maximise preview shows at premium prices before opening the remaining inventory. It will be difficult to hold the rest for long, and one can expect advances for the rest of the opening weekend to begin rolling out by the end of the day.
The showcasing planned for the preview day is astonishing. Multiplexes with two to four screens, the film is playing exclusively for the last two shows of the day. Larger multiplexes with six to ten screens have opened the majority of their screens to the film as well, leaving only one or two screens for competing titles. As the release approaches, even those remaining screens could shift to Dhurandhar.
That will create a huge capacity for the previews. Since the film has an extremely long run time of nearly 4 hours, one engagement will last around 4:30-5 hours. As a result, the second show will begin close to 10 PM and later. Some places may find it tough to get those full occupancies that late, although metros will be fine, and the first show will practically be full. Given the scale of showcasing and the early sales momentum, the previews alone could fetch Rs. 15-20 crore nett, with potential to go even higher. The current record for the biggest preview day belongs to Stree 2, which collected Rs. 8 crore nett from its preview shows.
There was a phase in the late 2000s and early 2010s when paid previews had started becoming a regular feature for Bollywood releases. However, the trend gradually faded away, as previews were often seen as taking away from the opening day numbers, with industry reporting largely focused on the first-day collections. Lately, with the “pan-India”-fication of box office reporting, opening day figures are being reported inclusive of previews, which could lead to a revival of the practice.
More updates on pre-sales will follow as the day progresses. Stay tuned.
