NATIONAL CINEMA DAY 2023 TO BE HELD TOMORROW; YET, NEW RELEASES WILL STRUGGLE
The National Cinema Day 2023 will be celebrated tomorrow in cinemas across the country. On Friday, October 13, the tickets will be sold for just Rs. 99 for all shows and in all theatres. Last year, the tickets were priced at just Rs. 75 and the response was maddening, to say the least.
This year, too, tickets have been fast filling. Surprisingly, Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan, which will enter its sixth week tomorrow, continues to be a preferred choice for moviegoers. Many of its shows are almost sold out, prompting exhibitors to increase its shows from tomorrow. The film is already an all-time blockbuster, collecting more than Rs. 550 crores. Yet, it continues to get an audience. Mission Raniganj, starring Akshay Kumar, didn’t work at the box office. But on National Cinema Day, it’ll have great collections, as evidenced by the sold-out shows. Fukrey 3 and The Exorcist: Believer, too, have an encouraging response. Thank You For Coming’s ticket sales have been gradually increasing too.
Shockingly, three films are releasing tomorrow and the ticket sales till now are poor. The biggest release is Dhak Dhak, produced by Taapsee Pannu and starring Fatima Sana Shaikh, Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza and Sanjana Sanghi. It is about four women bikers on a trip to Khardung La Pass. The idea is interesting and the trailer is also decent. Sadly, the studio partner, Viacom18 Studios, has barely promoted the film. The trailer was out just four days before release and the actors haven’t done any promotion. Taapsee, in fact, deleted posts related to the film as she’s reportedly miffed with Viacom18 for meting out stepmotherly treatment to her movie. It is said that the banner has recovered the investment by selling the rights to Netflix and hence, is giving it a token release in cinemas. The screen count is too low for a film of this scale.
It is believed that Dhak Dhak will also get an audience once the other preferred films sell out. Yet, due to limited release, the first-day collections would be less than Rs. 50 lakhs. The collections will further drop on Saturday due to the crucial India vs Pakistan match. The only hope is that the film turns out to be extraordinary so that it can see a huge jump in collections on Sunday. That can lead to higher collections on Monday than on Friday.
Two Hollywood films up for release are Dumb Money and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie. However, due to negligible awareness and hype, it will get some collections only on Friday due to the offer.