Theatres bet on Fighter for R-Day weekend biz

livemint.com:

₹20 crore on opening day. “It has been somewhat of a slow run (at the Hindi box office) over the past few weeks. Even though we saw Hanu Man (a Telugu film dubbed in Hindi) do decently well, there is a need to ensure there is content that proves relevant to all cinemas in the Hindi-speaking belt, which would translate into more big-ticket films and for the moment, Fighter is the only such title," independent distributor and exhibitor Akshaye Rathi said.

Despite the focus on Fighter, exhibitors worry that the rest of the quarter has few Hindi movies slated, after the lukewarm show of the recent past. The Republic Day weekend has been lucrative to the movie business, with hits like Pathaan ( ₹543.05 crore), Manikarnika—The Queen of Jhansi ( ₹92.19 crore), Padmaavat ( ₹302.15 crore) and Airlift ( ₹128.1 crore). However, theatre owners are concerned that the music of Fighter hasn’t taken off and the film is not generating enough buzz despite the presence of Roshan and Padukone, and the fact that director Anand is coming off the success of Pathaan.

Given the patriotic narrative and the star cast, trade experts are hopeful things should pick up a day after release. Even if collections don’t figure in the same range as Pathaan, they expect the film to earn around ₹200 crore. Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer, cinemas, BookMyShow said the film had crossed 200,000 tickets in advance sales with over 68% of transactors opting to watch the film in premium formats, including IMAX, 3D and 4DX versions.