 "Rajini fever, Gadar-2 magic lead to record weekend box-office collections")
Riding on the swagger of Rajinikanth in Jailer, the screen presence of Sunny Deol in Gadar 2 and the charisma of Akshay Kumar in OMG 2, Indian cinema witnessed its highest ever combined weekend gross box office collection of Rs 390 crore on August 11-13. In terms of footfall, the weekend was a record in 10 years by crossing the 21 million mark.
The weekend set an all-time theatrical gross box office record for the cinema industry in more than 100 years, said the Producers Guild of India and the Multiplex Association of India (MAI) on Monday. More than 21 million people went to movie theatres across the country this weekend to make it the highest combined admissions recorded in the past decade. Trade analyst Manobala Vijayabalan said that the previous industry record in terms of collection and footfall was in April 2017 when Baahubali 2: The Conclusion stormed the Indian box office.
“One significant development during the weekend was the comeback scripted by Bollywood after a quiet period of more than a year, through Gadar 2, OMG 2, and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Doubts about the future of the Hindi industry were laid to rest. Though Jailer is leading in terms of collection now, Gadar 2 is likely to have a better long run due to the higher penetration of theatres in the Hindi belt,” Kamal Gianchandani, president of MAI and chief executive officer of PVR Cinemas, told Business Standard. On the weekend, PVR Inox saw 3.36 million viewers and earned a gross box office revenue of over Rs 100 crore. MAI’s data shows that out of the total 9,500-10,000 theatres in India, around 60 per cent are in the Hindi belt. The country has around 4,000 multiplex screens in total.
According to industry data, Jailer collected Rs 222 crore worldwide in the first four days (it was released on Thursday), while Gadar 2, OMG 2, and Telugu star Chiranjeevi’s Bhola Shankar clocked Rs 135 crore, Rs 43.56 crore, and Rs 24 crore in collections, respectively, during the weekend.
“Collections of Jailer, Gadar 2, and OMG 2 are definitely encouraging. If you look at the last 10 years, the number of screens has increased with the multiplex boom. Like the last few years, South Indian films are expected to dominate the box office with several new releases coming in the latter part of the year,” said Nitin Datar, president of the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India. Upcoming major movie releases in South India include superstar Vijay’s Leo, Prabhas-starrer Salaar: Part-I, Ceasefire by KGF series director Prashanth Neel, and Kamal Haasan’s Indian-2.
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“After Covid-19, cinema halls were empty, and the trade was worried how footfalls would return to the pre-pandemic level. All it took were good films from across India to register historic footfalls. After Covid, people were not only hesitant to visit, but were also concerned about deteriorating quality of films and increasing ticket prices. Everything was overcome with Jailer, Gadar 2, and OMG 2,” said Vijayabalan. “The future of cinema is bright as long as good films keep coming. At the end of the day, content is king; the audience needs entertainment.”
According to Vijayabalan, Jailer had an audience footfall of 10.7 million, Gadar 2 of around 7.6 million, and OMG 2 around 2.2 million during the weekend.
“The turnout at theatres has infused new energy into our industry; audiences are responding in numbers we have not seen for a very long time, even the early morning shows are getting sold out. This weekend has been a wonderful experience for those who love mainstream Indian films,” said Shibasish Sarkar, president of the Producers Guild of India.