Executives at PVR Inox and Cinepolis say that the footfalls during the five-day long weekend that begins with Independence Day on Thursday have the potential to break the previous year’s record of 35 million footfalls during the I-Day week.
“For us, it’s better when 4 to 5 films work well in tandem rather than one film going through the roof. Stree 2 and Khel Khel Mein are seeing strong traction, but Vedaa, Double iSmart, and Thangalaan are also looking very promising,” said PVR Inox co-CEO Gautam Dutta.
PVR Inox has done advance bookings of 4.5 lakh tickets between the five movies and expects ticket sales to accelerate as the week progresses.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg, as we have just opened Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday bookings. This number should be looked at from the perspective that the trend of advance bookings is not very high,” Dutta added.
PVR Inox is expecting footfalls of four million between Thursday and Sunday. “We are expecting a million footfalls on Thursday. We are looking to do a footfall of about 3 million on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,” Dutta said.Cinepolis India MD Devang Sampat said that the movie line-up looks promising as the content is diverse, catering to audiences with different tastes. Cinepolis is eyeing 1.2 million footfalls during the week.”We have a five-day holiday, which has never happened in the past. What Gadar-2 and OMG-2 did last year, we are expecting something similar to happen this year,” he said, adding that it has already sold 1 lakh tickets for Stree 2, Khel Khel Mein, and Vedaa during the weekend.
Jio Studios and Maddock Film’s Stree 2 has sold over 1 lakh tickets for the opening day alone within 48 hours of tickets going up for sale. Going by the advance booking data, the movie has already garnered over Rs 30 crore for the opening day on August 15.
