Dhurandhar: The Revenge opened advances for the weekend today and, much like the previews, they have begun on a brisk note, if anything, even better. The film had sold over 4.50 lakh tickets for previews till this morning, being on sale for a week. Despite that, the film has managed to sell over a lakh tickets for the opening day in less than ten hours and has now crossed the same two national chains (PVRINOX and Cinepolis) as well.
Only two other Bollywood films (Pathaan and Jawan) have sold over 1 lakh tickets in the national chains in their first 24 hours of sales, and now Dhurandhar: The Revenge is third. It will most likely end its 24 hours at somewhere around 1.25 lakh. It will overtake Pathaan, though it may fall short of 1.55 lakh of Jawan, but then one needs to remember that Dhurandhar: The Revenge has already sold over 2.75 lakh tickets for previews till this morning in these chains, being on sale for seven days.
Had this been the true first day of sales without the previews, the film would almost certainly have comfortably crossed 2 lakh and possibly even pushed towards the 3 lakh or beyond.
There is no doubt that the film is going to have great pre-sales. It is all but locked to set new records for Bollywood pre-sales. The only question is how far it can push those numbers and what kind of records it can set. One key advance metric that goes around in the industry is the national chain advances. The record for the first-day advance in these chains for a Bollywood film belongs to Pathaan (Hindi), which had sold 545,000 tickets for its opening day. The overall record is with Avengers: Endgame, which was a rage, selling over a million.
Dhurandhar: The Revenge would have obliterated the record of Pathaan (Hindi) and could even have taken on Avengers: Endgame. However, with it expected to consume over 5 lakh tickets for previews, it might be difficult to do that now. Of course, inclusive of the previews, it could still do that.
