Bollywood pins hopes on Brahmastra after back-to-back flops at the box office

Movie’s strong advance booking trends are almost at par with what was seen for RRR.

The Hindi movie box office is hoping to get a respite from the prevailing low with Brahmastra : Part One-Shiva, since it has been witnessing advance booking trends. This comes at a time when the Hindi movies released in the past two months fizzled out at the box office. Analysts believe that if the content of the movie pulls the audience back to the cinemas, it could also augur well for the upcoming ones, especially in the the festival season.

Kamal Gianchandani, President, Multiplex Association of India (MAI) said, “After a relatively dull period of two months, Brahmastra is witnessing strong advance booking trends which are almost at par with what was seen for RRR. It goes on to show that audiences have strong desire to watch movies at the cinemas.”

Cinemas like PVR and Inox have been witnessing strong advance booking for the fantasy adventure film, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, touted to be one of the most expensive movie projects. Bookings have so far opened up for 3D and IMAX screens for the movie that is slated to be released on Friday.

Encouraging bookings
Abneesh Roy, Executive Director, Institutional Equities at Edelweiss Securities stated, “After a blockbuster Q1 FY23, the onset of Q2 FY23 has been dramatically different with box office collections tapering down. There is a ray of hope for Bollywood given the encouraging advance bookings for Brahmastra. If the content turns out to the audiences’ liking, it would pull them back to cinemas. The upcoming festive season and robust pipeline will strengthen the pull.”

After the dismal performance of flicks such as Laal Singh Chaddha and Raksha Bandhan, analysts said that the September quarter is likely to see a high double-digit decline comparable to pre-Covid levels.

Karan Taurani, Senior Vice-President, Elara Capital said, “Based on the strong advance booking trends seen in premium format screens, we believe the film could have a strong opening. A positive word of mouth and audience acceptance can help the film breach the upper-end in terms of box office revenues. The film is also expected to get strong support from regional markets as it has been dubbed in multiple languages and is a sci-fi film.”

The occupancy rates at the multiplexes which have been dismal in July and August are also expected to get a boost. The Hindu BusinessLine