WILL DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS BREAK SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME’S RECORD?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a very huge brand, as we all know. Their last film, Spider-Man: No Way Home was released in December 2021. In India, it created a huge craze and opened at a huge Rs. 32.75 crore. The film managed to collect more than Rs. 215 crore in its lifetime despite the third wave.

Now, the next Marvel film, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, will be released tomorrow. Yet again, the excitement is tremendous, though not at the level of Spider-Man: No Way Home. One of the major reasons for the hype is that Doctor Strange was a part of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Also, he has been loved for his contribution to the Avengers films. As a result, viewers now know him and want to see what he’s upto in the new film.

In a rare instance, the team of Disney opened the advance booking of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness way back, on April 8. In other words, viewers were given a chance to buy tickets a month in advance! Believe it or not, several shows got full 27 days before the film’s release. As time passed, more and more theatres opened up the advance. Last week’s major releases, Heropanti 2 and Runway 34, have flopped. Realizing that these films would not get a lot of shows in Week 2, the advance booking of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness opened in full swing across the country from Saturday. The tickets were sold out in most properties, especially for the shows on Friday, May 6.

However, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness will face some challenges. It has got far too many shows. The film is running almost everywhere and in certain multiplexes, shows start from 12:30 am with the last show at 11:55 pm! As a result, more than 30-40 shows are being played of the film in many theatres. Hence, there’s too much supply while the demand is there but not as much. The exhibitors, however, are simply following the Spider-Man: No Way Home model. But Spider-Man: No Way Home had an insane craze as it featured as many as 3 Spider-Man’s. So, even those who are not Marvel fans were excited to see it. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness doesn’t have any such USP.

Nevertheless, the opening is expected to be more than Rs. 27-28 crore. It can even cross the Rs. 30 crore mark, with an outside chance of crossing Spider-Man: No Way Home’s first-day collections. Spider-Man: No Way Home had a superb word of mouth. If Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness also has similar kind of reports, it can work big time. Even if reports are negative, it’ll have a healthy lifetime as the collections in the first weekend itself would be around Rs. 90-100 crore.

LAST FRIDAY OF THE YEAR TO BE A DISAPPOINTMENT AS JERSEY GETS POSTPONED

All was going well as the Coronavirus cases in the country were dropping steadily. The cinema business, too, had come on track with films like Sooryavanshi, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Pushpa: The Rise - Part 01 emerging as super hits. Sadly, the Omicron variant entered the country, and has led to a significant rise in the number of cases. Nevertheless, the fear of the virus isn’t there like last time and life was going as usual. In states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh etc, night curfew was introduced, mainly to avoid gathering of people post evening during the festival of Christmas and during New Year’s Eve. The business was slightly impacted but no one was complaining.

But then on Monday, December 27, the government of Delhi decided to shut down cinemas with immediate effect. Shahid Kapoor-starrer Jersey was all set to release on December 31. An hour after Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made the announcement, Jersey’s producers revealed that their film has been postponed indefinitely. A few people wondered if this was the right call. After all, just Delhi city was shut; the rest of the country is functioning. However, what’s the guarantee that other states won’t follow suit and shut down theatres in their respective territories? Last year, the producers of Angrezi Medium burnt their hands when they decided to release the Irrfan Khan-starrer in cinemas on March 13, 2020, despite the Covid-19 threat looming over their heads. Within 72 hours, most states shut down the theatres and the business of that film was disastrous.

Hence, it can’t be ruled out that the makers of Jersey must have also feared that if the crucial state of Maharashtra shuts from Thursday or over the weekend and so do the other important states, the film will bomb at the ticket window.

Meanwhile, the Omicron cases continue to increase in most parts of the country. In Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, the number of cases were around 600 on December 24 while on December 29, the number jumped to around 2500! Such a huge jump has been rare. The good news is that most cases are asymptomatic or mild and don’t require oxygen beds or even hospitalization. A few voices in the medical and scientific community are predicting that Omicron can be a blessing in disguise because though it’s more virulent, it’s also less likely to cause severe illness or even death. Hence, a prediction is made that very soon, herd immunity will be achieved and the pandemic will come to an end.

Sadly, no credible organization or government can afford to put their gear down over these beliefs. One needs scientific evidence and it’ll come in a few weeks. The industry stakeholders do understand that the government will need to put some restrictions in place. They are asking various state governments to not shut down cinemas; instead, they are requesting them instead to reintroduce the rule of 50% occupancy in cinemas in states where 100% occupancy is allowed. Also, they are also requesting that only fully vaccinated individuals be allowed inside cinemas.

Sadly, there’s no guarantee the state governments will listen to the rule, especially the Maharashtra government which has been strict in putting restrictions. Despite cases jumping to 2500+ in Mumbai, the government hasn’t told cinemas to halt operations. However, as seen in the past, if cases continue to rise exponentially, cinemas can be told to stop functioning. If this happens in a lot of states, the fate of the upcoming films can be in limbo. Next week, January 7, sees the release of arguably the most expensive film of Indian cinema, RRR. The makers are going ahead with the promotions as scheduled. However, everyone associated, including exhibitors, are prepared for any eventuality.

It is an established fact that the chances of one getting infected with Covid-19 in a cinema hall is negligible. Also, it’s bewildering to see that political rallies are allowed in a state like Uttar Pradesh, where a night curfew is in place. These rallies attract lakhs of people and where wearing of masks, social distancing etc goes for a toss. Even weddings are permitted and so are restaurants and pubs. Masks are required to be put down in these situations and it can lead to a spread of Covid-19 as compared to a cinema hall where viewers have to wear a mask compulsorily. Hence, the way cinemas are shut in the first sign of rise of cases is highly unjustified but the industry sadly, is yet to develop a spine to question the authorities over this logic.

WILL ’83 BE 2021’S BIGGEST HIT?

The cinema business is now almost on track after theatres were allowed to reopen in October. Sooryavanshi was the major Hindi film to release, on Diwali, and it has emerged as a huge hit, collecting more than Rs. 190 crore. The films that released after this film like Bunty Aur Babli 2, Antim, Satyameva Jayate 2, Tadap and Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui didn’t work at the box office. And now, ’83 is all set to release and the film carries a lot of promise. If all goes well, it’ll emerge as the second biggest hit of the year after Sooryavanshi.

’83 is based on Indian cricket team’s unbelievable victory in the 1983 World Cup. It stars Ranveer Singh in the role of Kapil Dev and Deepika Padukone as his wife. Pankaj Tripathi, Saqib Saleem, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Ammy Virk, Nishant Dahiya and others also feature in this film and play real-life characters. The film was supposed to initially release on April 10, 2020. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was postponed to Christmas 2020 followed by June 4, 2021. It now finally releases tomorrow, that is, December 24.

’83 has tremendous hype right from the beginning. The subject is very promising and close to the hearts of Indians. Even those who are not interested in cricket are looking forward to seeing it as it’s a classic underdog story. Moreover, the film is devoid of sex and violence. As a result, audiences of all kind and all ages will be watching it.

However, ’83 faces challenges. While the buzz in the mega cities like Mumbai and Delhi is strong, in the rest of the country, the hype is limited. The promotions haven’t been strong. Also, the film has faced issues in getting screens. Reliance Entertainment, the producers of ’83, had told exhibitors that if they want to screen ’83, they’ll have to do so for 2 weeks without sharing shows with any other film. The same order was given to theatres during Sooryavanshi, which was also released by Reliance. Then, the exhibitors had no choice as they were dying to show a film. Hence, they agreed and gave zero or very less shows to Eternals, which had clashed with Sooryavanshi.

This time, the exhibitors don’t mind missing out on ’83 as the last week’s releases – Spider-Man: No Way Home and Pushpa: The Rise - Part 01 – are doing excellent business. Also, they haven’t forgotten the treatment meted out to them during Sooryavanshi. And looking at the low buzz and low advance of ’83 in cinemas where the bookings had commenced, the theatres were okay with not showing ’83.

Although the latest news is that ’83 team has bowed down and have agreed exhibitors show sharing with other films, the damage is slightly done. A few theatres opened up the advance booking of the upcoming week with Spider-Man: No Way Home and Pushpa: The Rise - Part 01. Hence, the overall screen count might be low although reportedly, Reliance is trying its best to get a wide release.

Sooryavanshi had collected Rs. 26 crore on Day 1. ’83, sadly, won’t be able to have such kind of a day-1 figure. The opening is expected to be in the range of Rs. 10-15 crore. However, the press saw the film on Monday and the verdict is unanimous. Also, it’s a film best enjoyed in cinemas. With Saturday being Christmas Day, when collections increase substantially, ’83’s day 2 figures can be huge if all goes well. Then it’ll have to sustain in the weekdays and in the second weekend, during the New Year Holiday weekend. If public indeed accepts the film wholeheartedly, then it’s lifetime can cross that of Sooryavanshi and thus, it’ll emerge as 2021’s highest grosser.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a fun-filled entertainer with an incredible plot. The film starts with a bang and then sadly, drops. Thankfully, the film rises once Peter Parker collaborates with Doctor Strange to ‘undo’ the blunders. However, the best is reserved when the three Spider-Man’s come together. This part is unique and the dialogues and the situations are sure to give you your money’s worth and satisfy the fan in you. The film suffers majorly due to overload of expectations. I did the mistake, like millions others, of expecting it to be another Avengers: Endgame, and this is not that kind of a classic film. A few developments are also difficult to digest. Speaking of performances, Tom Holland is more serious this time but still as lovable. Zendaya is terrific as expected but one wishes she had more to do. Benedict Cumberbatch rocks in his part. Jacob Batalon is likeable and raises laughs. Jon Favreau and Marisa Tomei lend able support. J K Simmons has an important part and is great in an Arnab Goswami-type of a role. Alfred Molina takes the cake among all the villains (I am not mentioning others as I have not seen the film’s trailers and hence don’t know, how many of them have been unveiled so far). And finally, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are like the icing on the cake. All in all, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a treat for the fans!

My rating - **** out of 5!

WILL SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME CROSS THE Rs. 30 CRORE MARK ON DAY 1?

The much-awaited superhero film, Spider-Man: No Way Home is all set to release tomorrow and the advance has surprised and shocked the trade and industry. Everyone knew that the craze is tremendous. Yet, no one was ready for the scenes on the ticketing app, BookMyShow, from Sunday evening onwards. As soon as the bookings commenced in most theatres, shows began to get sold out in no time. The demand is such that exhibitors had to hold shows as early as 6:00 am, 5:00 am and believe it or not, even 4:00 am!

Shockingly, the exhibitors have hiked up prices enormously. Certain cinemas are charging as high as Rs. 1000 and even Rs. 2000. Yet, these seats were sold out within minutes! It proved how eager audiences are ready to be back in cinemas and that for an exciting product, they are willing to dig deep into their pockets.

So why is there such a tremendous craze for Spider-Man No Way Home? Firstly, it belongs to the exciting Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has a loyal fan following of its own. Out of the Marvel superheroes, Spider-Man is probably one of the most loved or maybe the most favourite of the viewers. All the previous Spider-Man films have opened well and done record business. And this time, the excitement has gone many notches higher as Tom Holland, the actor playing the current Spider-Man, will be joined by the actors who played the superhero in the earlier films - Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. This factor has made viewers very curious and excited as they cannot wait to see all three Spider-Man's in one frame.

One of the earlier Marvel films, Avengers: Endgame, also had similar craze and it opened at Rs. 53.50 crore. Spider-Man: No Way Home will not have such a record opening. However, it’s sure to collect more than Rs. 25 crore. On day 1, Sooryavanshi earned Rs. 26 crore and it remains to be seen if Spider-Man: No Way Home can break this record. A few trade pundits are confident that it'll cross even the Rs. 30 crore mark.

The other release of the week, meanwhile, is Pushpa. It’s a Telugu film starring Allu Arjun but will get a huge release in the dubbed Hindi version. It looks like an exciting actioner set in the jungles. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, it’ll give a tough fight to Spider-Man: No Way Home. Though a lot is expected from the dubbed Hindi version, it’ll struggle to find an audience. Similar hopes were placed on the Hindi version of 2021’s first big hits, the Tamil film Master, starring Vijay. But it earned just Rs. 3-4 crore in the Hindi version. Pushpa, hopefully, would go beyond that number.