Beating back boycott calls, Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Pathaan’ is set for the biggest opening for any Hindi film with 4.19 lakh tickets sold till Tuesday and 80 per cent occupancy on day one, even for early morning shows beginning at 6 AM or 7 AM, say industry insiders.
The film, which releases across 5,000 screens on Wednesday, could well signal a happy 2023 for an industry grappling with crippling losses following the Covid pandemic and a string of box office duds. The ticket surge is being seen in multiplexes, single screen theatres and also in the South.
“The film is going to take a historic start at the box office with opening day collections of `45 crore to `50 crore. The box office revival will begin with ‘Pathaan’, especially looking at its advance booking. This is very rare. And tomorrow is a working day,” trade analyst Taran Adarsh told PTI.
“This film is going to break the advance booking of ‘KGF 2 and will do a business of `45 crore to `50 crore,” agreed Rajendra Singh Jyala, chief programming officer at multiplex chain INOX.
“We have 7 AM shows at Inox and almost 80 per cent of it is full. The early morning shows are happening in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata and a few others,” Jyala told PTI.
The Yash Raj Films production, which marks Shah Rukh’s return as a hero after 2018’s ‘Zero’, will get a five-day extended opening weekend as it releases the day before Republic Day.
The advances of ‘Pathaan’ have exceeded all expectation, added Kamal Gianchandani, president of the Multiplex Association of India.
