Will the dystopian, multi-starrer, big budget film Kalki 2898 AD lift the fortunes of exhibitors?

Since the release of the first trailer of the movie on June 11, the stock of PVR Inox has gained nearly 8% reflecting expectations of high collections in the coming weeks. This gain follows a relatively dull spell for the company amid poor performance of some of the big budget movies and lack of any major Hollywood releases in the first half of 2024. The stock has lost 12.5% so far this year.

The Rs 600 crore mega budget movie produced by C. Aswani Dutt under Vyjayanthi Movies banner and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, and Deepika Padukone has attracted an advance booking of over 1.3 million tickets across languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam before its release on June 27.

Trade analysts say that given the genre of the film, ticket prices for 3D and non-3D shows are in the range of Rs 350-2,000. Also, according to them, it has become the first Indian film to surpass US$2.6 million worth of advance booking in the US. Karan Taurani, senior vice-president at Elara Capital, expects the film to record Rs 120 crore at the domestic box office and Rs 175 crore internationally on the opening day.

In addition, upcoming Hollywood spectacle films such as Deadpool & Wolverine, Transformers One, Borderlands. And Alien: Romulus are likely to provide strong revenue for PVR Inox in the coming quarters. At present, PVR Inox has a share of 50-70% in the Hollywood box office collection in the country, 30-40% share in Hindi movie collection and 10-25% in the case of regional movies.

Given its leadership position with 1,760 screens, future releases are likely to result in higher footfalls, food and beverages income, box office and advertising revenue for PVR Inox in the coming quarter.