After a lull post the Covid-19 pandemic induced lockdown, theatres across the country are marching towards a box office revival. The festival of Diwali, which saw the release of two big-ticket films, Akshay Kumar‘s Sooryavanshi and Rajinikanth-starrer Annaatthe, has brought cheer to the theatre owners.
According to Box Office India, while Kumar’s Sooryavanshi managed to collect Rs 26.50 crore (net) on day one, Annaatthe collected Rs 24 crore (net) approximately in Tamil Nadu.
On the other hand, Eternals, Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao’s superhero magnum opus also opened to positive response in India with its first-day collection figure standing at Rs 7.35 crore (net).
Sooryavanshi, according to BOI, emerged as the film with the second-highest opening day for Kumar and broke the record of Gold, Kesar, and 2.0. For the director, Rohit Shetty, Sooryavanshi became the fourth highest opener after Singham Returns, Chennai Express, and Golmaal Again, all of which earned above Rs 30 crores.
Annaatthe too set a record by surpassing actor Vijay’s Sarkar that released in 2018 and earned Rs 23.5 crore alone in Tamil Nadu on the first day. It has even surpassed the collection records of films like Bigil, Kabali, and Master. Along with Vishal and Arya-starrer Enemy, the Rajinikanth film was among the first set of films to open to 100% occupancy, in the state.
Annaatthe Is the Major Crowd-Puller Down South
Theatre owners from Tamil Nadu told Silverscreen India that Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe is the undisputed crowd puller.
Dilip Kumar of Malayandi Cinemas (a single screen with 416 seats) in Usilampatti, Madurai, said that the film brought him the greatest opening day business of the year.
“Since it is a rural area, a lot of family audience came on the first day itself. We could not run Enemy, since most of the screens were running Annaatthe. We ran four shows, with most of the shows selling 300 tickets. About 80-90% theatres were running full-house shows,” he added.
However, in cities like Chennai, Enemy and Annaatthe both recorded a steady footfall.
Ruban Mathivanan, managing partner of GK Cinemas in Chennai, said, “It is good for the industry when multiple films come, they complement each other. Annaatthe is a family entertainer whereas Enemy is a stylish action thriller. Both have a very different audience. Enemy too opened to good reception.”
Ruban, who is running Enemy on two screens and Annaatthe on four screens, across his four centres, said that theatres are now experiencing a business rebound.
Echoing his thoughts, Venkatesh, owner of Woodlands Cinemas, Chennai, who ran both films on his two screens said, “The first two days went good, and Annaatthe ran in full occupancy rate. Everybody wants to watch a Superstar (Rajinikanth) film for Diwali. Enemy saw around 60-70% of the hall being occupied. While Annaatthe majorly drew a family audience, Enemy, being an action film, was preferred mainly by youngsters.”
Meanwhile, Enemy’s producer Vinoth Kumar, told Silverscreen India that the film collected Rs 6 crore (gross) in two days (4th and 5th), in Tamil Nadu. “The first two day collections are good, for this film. We have got the opening that we need as per our budget. We are getting the reception which we need, and it has been only two days since the release,” he added.
Venkatesh added that theatres will continue to record brisk business with around 55 Hollywood films scheduled to release in 2022.
Both ‘Sooryavanshi’ & ‘Eternals’ Draw Crowds
Although the film industry generally avoids clashes of big-ticket films, this time around theatre owners and exhibitors were pleased to have Sooryavanshi, Annaatthe, and Eternals release during the holiday weekend.
Film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi spoke to Silverscreen India and said clashes are “not really a bad thing as long the films that are releasing, cater to different audiences.”
“The audience base of Annaatthe (which is releasing in Tamil and Telugu) is very different from that of Sooryavanshi or even Eternals for that matter. This situation should be seen as a celebration of cinema where all kinds of films catering to different types of audiences are releasing together,” he said.
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Just like Eternals, Kumar’s film too managed to pull in huge crowds in states other than Maharashtra as well. Anupam Reddy, an executive committee member of the Telangana State Film Chamber of Commerce and owner of Sudha Multiplex in Hyderabad told Silverscreen India, “Throughout Hyderabad, the Hindi film managed to keep the halls full in the evening shows and almost at half capacity during Friday afternoon, the first day of release. All in all, we can say that the average footfall on day 1 of Sooryvanshi has been above 80%.”
“As for Eternals, this film too saw 100% bookings in the evening shows on Friday,” he added.
Suresh Shenoy, the owner of Shenoys Theatre in Kochi, who had earlier said that Kumar’s film has seen some exceptional pre-booking trend in Kerala, later confirmed that the film recorded an average footfall on Friday.
Currently, as many as eight States have allowed theatres to operate at full capacity, including Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Gujarat, Delhi NCR, and Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, theatres in Maharashtra have been permitted to operate at 50 % capacity while in West Bengal, they are running at 70% occupancy.