With Animal and Sam Bahadur releasing in more than 5,000 screens, December is off to a strong start in terms of box office collections. Animal is expected to have a lifetime BO (domestic net) in the range of Rs 300-350 crore, according to a report by Elara Capital. It expects Sam Bahadur to report a lifetime BO of Rs 50-60 crore.
Multiplex operators expect a blockbuster month with the upcoming releases. “Our Q2 was exceptional because we had two exceptional movies which did more than Rs 500 crore. There was a tailwind of Oppenheimer, Barbie and other Hollywood biggies. It was an exceptional quarter and not every quarter is going to be exceptional but definitely with the kind of movie flow we’re seeing now and the confidence level of the film fraternity, it’s looking positive. Animal, Sam Bahadur, and the third movie of Shah Rukh Khan is coming this year, Dunki. I see content pipeline being very good and we should be able to sustain this growth,” Ajay Bijli, managing director of PVR INOX told Business Today.
Elara Capital’s analyst Karan Taurani said that performance of December 2023 is key for Q3FY24. “Post Animal and Sam Bahadur, there are a few large budget films lined up to be released in December, such as Dunki, Salaar and Aquaman (English) which, in turn, will determine performance for this quarter; we expect occupancy to move up sharply in the range of 27-28% in December; this can move up further based on improved performance. We estimate Hindi BO revenue growth of 18% YoY in Q3FY24, which is flat compared to pre-COVID levels,” he said.
According to BookMyShow, Animal and Sam Bahadur which will kick-start the weekend run at the cinemas this month, which has begun on a promising note with Animal already crossing 1 million (or 10 lakh) tickets sold in advance sales. “Like each year, December 2023 too, is gearing up to be an exciting year-end for cinephiles as the final set of movie releases for 2023, fuel the buzz for rising audience footfalls at cinemas.
Starting with a bang and ending with another one, that’s how December is increasingly looking like with the other high-impact releases for the month, Dunki and Salaar: Part 1- Ceasefire getting ready to welcome movie-goers to end the year in style. Shah Rukh Khan is on a success hat-trick this year as with Dunki which also is his first-ever partnership with the award winning director Rajkumar Hirani setting high expectations for the film,” Ashish Saksena, COO - Cinemas, BookMyShow said. He added that with a diverse mix of films this month, the audience enthusiasm and anticipation is riding high for December to end 2023 with some potential blockbusters in store.
Also Read: Animal movie review: Ranbir Kapoor owns this saga of violence, gore and misogyny