Industry
Lost Christmas: Theatres foresee tepid end to 2024 with mixed Christmas weekend
Summary
As Pushpa 2 retains its popularity during the Christmas weekend, Varun Dhawan's Baby John is expected to garner ₹10-12 crore on day one, or about a third of what previous holiday hits made. Exhibitors are relying on Pushpa and Mufasa for better box office returns this festive season.
In the absence of a big-name holiday film this year, cinema theatre owners are not too enthusiastic about the Christmas weekend and expect Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2: The Rule to remain the first choice of moviegoers even in its third week.
While Varun Dhawan-starrer Baby John follows the southern action film template — popularised by hits like Jawan — and has been promoted aggressively, trade experts said it has not generated the right buzz, and the lead star does not have enough of a following to carry a mass-market commercial film on his shoulders.
The film is expected to generate ₹10-12 crore on day one compared with past Christmas hits such as Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) and Dangal (2016), which earned ₹34.1 crore and ₹29.78 crore on their opening days, respectively.
“We believe Pushpa will still lead the weekend. The film is displaying amazing legs and a fantastic hold at the box office. Baby John, on the other hand, has failed to generate curiosity and not hit the sweet spot with audiences," independent exhibitor Vishek Chauhan said.
The over three-hour Pushpa 2, which opened in the first weekend of December, is the biggest hit of the year in India.
Chauhan said exhibitors haven’t really received too many enquiries about the Varun Dhawan-starrer and theatres are banking more on Pushpa 2, along with animation flick Mufasa to carry them through the festive period. Mufasa opened on 20 December and made ₹32.5 crore over the weekend.
Chauhan said the Christmas-to-New Year period is extremely lucrative for the film business as everything shuts down and families are eager to go out and spend money, even in small towns. In the past, Christmas has been known for Aamir Khan hits such as Dhoom 3 (2013) and PK (2014), which earned ₹284.27 crore and ₹340.8 crore in domestic box office collections.
No holiday sheen
“Christmas is usually a bountiful period, especially for metro and multiplex audiences. If the film generates positive word of mouth, even walk-ins are possible and footfalls can be good even on weekdays, which means the usual drop as compared to weekends is not there," film producer, trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar said.
“It’s true that we don’t really have a big new film (for the holiday period) this year. A lot of films also had to reshuffle their dates because a juggernaut like Pushpa had arrived, which meant screens wouldn’t be available. But given that one film (Pushpa) has already brought in over ₹600 crore in Hindi alone, it takes pressure off other films," said Rahul Puri, managing director of Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cinemas.
