Prabhas starrer ‘Adipurush’, a retelling of the epic Ramayana, is eyeing a bumper opening at the box office with trade experts predicting the film could earn over Rs 80 crore on its opening day and benchmarking it ahead of its theatrical release. Shah Rukh Khan Starring ‘Pathaan’.
Reportedly made on a budget of Rs 500 crore, the big-budget multilingual film will release in 3D worldwide this Friday.
T-Series, the banner behind the Om Raut-directed film, opened advance booking for the film on Sunday and theater owners say the response has been beyond expectations. Adipurush also stars Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh, Devdatta Nage and Saif Ali Khan.
Gautam Dutta, CEO of PVR INOX Limited, said that they have already crossed “more than 3 million bookings for the 1st weekend”.
Dutta said the star power of “Baahubali” hero Prabhas and the timeliness of the film gives him a “rare edge” and “strong legs to move”.
“It will be one of the biggest films of this quarter. The major languages in this film will be Telugu and Hindi followed by other languages and Prabhas, a very popular star down south, along with the entire northern belt should give the film a colossal start,” Dutta told.
According to an industry veteran, they are looking at “close to Rs 80-85 crore” on the opening day itself. Said as “Pathaan”, the response around “Adipurush” was also very welcome.
“So over the weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday combined, we are looking at over Rs 200 crore easily… ‘Pathaan’ was as marketed and as welcoming as ‘Adipurush’ was. A lot of people were waiting for a Shah Rukh Khan movie at that time… You will see the relevance of the two movies ‘Pathaan’ and ‘Adipurush’ that there is a lot of hype or noise share in the market, or. the expectations are pretty much the same,” he said.
Exhibitor and distributor Sunny Chandiramani, who operates 25 screens in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, said the advance booking of “Adipurush” is equivalent to that of “Pathaan”.
“The advance booking is great, it is on par with any big film like it was with ‘Pathaan’. We hope the film will earn Rs 25 crore in Hindi and overall the film should earn over Rs 80-100 crore on its opening day,” Chandiramani told.
Ajay Bagdai, a distributor from the Rajkot area of Gujarat, predicted the film to do a “Rs 200 crore” weekend business.
Dutta said that while the pre-release excitement is reminiscent of the buzz around ‘Pathaan’, ‘Adipurush’ has an edge with its theme that will attract audiences across age groups.
“To be honest, if you look at some of the NGOs, institutions, schools, political parties and authorities who want to come and see it, it’s not connected to the star part. This is clearly related to the timeliness of the film,” he said.
Devang Sampat, CEO, Cinepolis India, said the response from cinema goers has been nothing short of extraordinary and they have already booked 50,000 tickets.
“We expect a remarkable turnout at Cinepolis theaters and it is poised to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. The exceptional advance booking numbers are an encouraging sign indicating a promising performance at the box office and we expect 10,00,000 visitors to visit Cinepolis theaters this week,” Sampat told.
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