Showing posts with label Puaada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Puaada. Show all posts
Chal Mera Putt 2 to start strong
8:31 AM
Box Office India Trade Network
There will be another Punjabi film CHAL MERA PUTT 2 that will take a strong opening this week. The market in Punjab got going with PUAADA and even BELLBOTTOM had healthy collections in the first weekend. Now its likely CHAL MERA PUTT 2 will have even better collections as there are more properties in operation and the makers are paying print costs and agreeing to the terms of non multiplex chains and single screens.
CHAL MERA PUTT 2 released just before the lockdown and was doing strong business as it collected almost 3 crore nett in just 2 proper full days and another day when most properties shut up shop. The makers have waited since March 2020 to release in the theatres and it is sure to see results.
The barometer chain for business of Punjabi films, PVR, sold 1492 tickets as per close of business on Tuesday. PUAADA at the same time was 1095 though PVR has more operational properties now including very key properties like PVR Mohali and PVR Pavilion in Ludhiana which between them have added 315 tickets alone.
In Chandigarh last week BELLBOTTOM collected 6.87 lakh on day one and CHAL MERA PUTT 2 should easily surpass the 10 lakh nett mark. The film can surpass the 75 lakh nett mark in East Punjab on release which would be a huge number. The film does have an issue with censors as the makers shot extra footage to make the film fresher but the censors in India did not pass as the film has Pakistani artistes. Sadly these things exist for cinema and sport only in India while many other trade dealings continue with Pakistan as normal.
The Overseas will see the new film and collections will be excellent with out performance in UK pretty much certain. The Pakistani artsites here are a huge plus as the Pakistan audience will come out for this Indian Punjabi film. The film is getting an advance in certain London cinemas where most Punjabi films will not even release and if they do it will be a show here or there while this film gets many shows and even the biggest screens. Australia and New Zealand will be a huge loss due to Coronavirus lockdown.
The key reason for the turnout for PUAADA and CHAL MERA PUTT 2 as soon as cinemas opened is that both are starcast mass entertainers. Eventually where the numbers go depend on how good a film is but if you offer entertainment with some face value then the public is always going to give it a chance.
Punjabi film Puaada records great advance
8:52 AM
Box Office India Trade Network
The Punjabi film PUAADA is set to bring the audiences back in Punjab as it records good advances across the main theatres in Punjab. It is pretty much certain the film will see the best response anywhere in India outside the South post the pandemic.
The advance could turn out to be excellent if the final day before release pushes through. It could be that the advance is better or comparable to any Punjabi film released before the pandemic outside the biggest blockbusters of Punjabi cinema like SHADAA and CARRY ON JATTA 2. This is a like for like comparison and only comparing the cinemas where PUAADA will release.
The main headwind will be the theatre count as the biggest Punjabi films were releasing in 175 plus theatres but here post the pandemic, PUAADA may have to settle for around 100 cinemas. This is because some theatre have rent issues and others not coming to a settlement on paying the virtual print fee. There are three key cinemas which are not open yet which are PVR Mohali, PVR Zirakpur and PVR Khanna and if these open over the weekend it will give PUAADA a huge boost. Before the pandemic, these three theatres alone could collect 10 lakh nett in a day for a Punjabi film.
Despite the smaller release the film seems pretty certain to collect well and there is no doubt the occupancy will be good over the weekend. In terms of collections it remains to be seen what numbers it can hit. The top films of Ammy Virk used to hit the 1 crore nett plus mark in East Punjab prior to the pandemic. PUAADA will be coming with at least 40-50% less theatres and that too with these theatres only allowing 50% occupancy.
The 50% occupancy rule is especially a killer as the successful Punjabi films go to 100% occupancy in many shows in many properties across the state especially over the first weekend. Here it will be just half the collections on the allowed full house..
PUAADA has also seen a solid response overseas with good sales in Canada despite the country having occupancy restrictions (although this is not a major problem for Hollywood releases as they generally have lower occupancy but Punjabi films record housefull shows in many cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Surrey). The film could deliver some good numbers overseas as well.
Bellbottom to be the first major Hindi film release in 18 months
8:34 AM
Box Office India Trade Network
BELLBOTTOM will be the film which will try and some sort of decent audience back to the cinemas this time. The release of the trailer means the makers have decided to come without cinemas in Maharashtra and Bihar being open. Bihar cinemas will start to open from Friday but most of Maharashtra is still likely to closed when BELLBOTTOM releases.
BELLBOTTOM is taking a 30% hit in terms of Maharashtra not open and taking into account that some districts will be open its going to be around 25% at release time unless some good news comes from Maharashtra. The trailer came out a couple of days back and it was a decent trailer in terms of the story of the film. The film was made in the Coronavirus pandemic so obviously the scale of the film is not as it could have been.
Still BELLBOTTOM will the first major Hindi release for 18 months. The last major release in the cinemas with a cast was BAAGHI 3 way back in March 2020. The plus is that a film is coming up early in this second round of cinemas reopening as last time the industry left it late and the second wave hit the country. But on the negative side, it will be a small release considering its an Akshay Kumar starrer.
It will be hard to build capacity because there are a lot of factors against it with the first being most of Maharashtra being shut and second the 50% occupancy rule everywhere barring Nizam. Thirdly not all the cinemas will be open in states outside Maharashtra as some have issues with rent and need some sort of settlements to open and others will want to see a flow of releases to open as they will not want to shut shop again after BELLBOTTOM.
There is no doubt that BELLBOTTOM will find some sort of audience despite the headwinds as it has a major star and the trailer is pretty good but the business will only be what the box office allows. Before BELLBOTTOM, a major Punjabi release PUAADA will come and this will tell the position of cinemas in Punjab and some properties of Delhi. It can be assumed most of the Hindi markets will be in the same position as Delhi and Punjab in terms of how the audience feels about cinema at the moment. Its a plus that there are mainly multiplexes in Delhi and Punjab as well so it will tell about that multiplex audience which so all important for Hindi films.
Both PUAADA and BELLBOTTOM will be getting 50% revenue sharing terms for the first TWO weeks from the multiplexes which is better than normal. The release of better films early will mean a larger audience returning faster to the cinemas. This could lead to a decent last quarter of the year of course depending on the trajectory of Covid-19 though it will be 2022 when event films of Hindi cinema featuring the reigning Khans like PATHAN, TIGER 3 and LAAL SINGH CHADDHA will see a release.
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