Gadar 2, Jailer, Oppenheimer & more resurrect the big screens as people throng to theatres again

• Gadar, Jailer and OMG2 opening weekend collections are the best the industry has seen in a long time.
• While Deol and Rajnikanth movies charged up single screens, Nolan’s Oppenheimer gave IMAX its biggest ever opening weekend in India.
• Punjabi movie Carry on Jetta 3 entered the Rs 100 crore club while Marathi movie Bhaipan Bharideva is on its way to the landmark.
• Stellar September releases and OTTs slashing budgets bode well for movie theatres, says a research report.

Indian movie theatres are dusting off their ‘Housefull’ boards with superhits like Sunny Deol’s Gadar 2, Rajnikanth’s Jailer and a good opening for Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi’s OMG 2. Thanks to the Independence Day holiday effect, the opening weekend collections of these three movies zoomed to ₹390 crore — the best the industry has seen in a long time.

“August looks promising,” says a research report by Nuvama, adding that strong footfalls are likely for extended days given more holidays and pent-up demand for the sequel of Gadar and Jailer.

The good times for movie theatres started in July itself starting with the mega success of Barbenheimer. Karan Johar’s Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani and Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One — added to the collections as the much needed footfalls inched higher.

While Sunny Deol and Rajnikanth movies charged up the single screens across the nation, Christopher Nolan’s atom bomb magnum opus Oppenheimer brought the shine back to IMAX.

“Oppenheimer scored the biggest IMAX opening weekend ever in a diverse collection of markets including India. As he has done throughout his career, Christopher Nolan pushed the boundaries of IMAX technology to deliver unforgettable storytelling with Oppenheimer and audiences are responding in numbers we’ve not seen in our 50-year history,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX.

Source: Sacnilk.com

Punjabi & Marathi movies add to the coffers

The story of silver screen successes in the recent past extends beyond Hollywood, Bollywood and Telugu cinema. The recent months have seen a lot of traction from regional movies — extending beyond the South movies.

Punjabi movie Carry on Jetta 3, starring Gippy Grewal and Jaswinder Bhalla, became the first movie to cross the ₹100 crore mark in worldwide collections even as it grossed over half of that in India.

A Marathi movie — which also boasts of an all-female lead starring Rohini Hattangadi and Baipan Bhari Deva — has also grossed ₹89.6 crore

Added to that, many other recent Hindi releases like Satyaprem Ki Katha also came close to becoming superhits – signalling good times for movie makers, theatre owners and investors of PVR. The stock of PVR ran up by 22% in the last three months, and analysts expect better times ahead.

“We continue to reiterate our positive stance on multiplexes over the medium/long-term. PVR INOX continues its focus on expanding F&B offerings (especially for INOX chain) and recently introduced F&B items starting at ₹99, gaining good traction. Ticket synergy benefits shall likely kick in from upcoming quarters while the F&B synergy benefits are already as per plans,” said Nuvama.

More movies, fewer OTTs

The pipeline of big movies in the coming months is also full — with Ayushmann Khurrana’s Dream Girl 2, Hollywood movie, Grand Turismo, and Malayalam movie, King of Kotha, in August.

In September, Shah Rukh Khan who is riding high on the success of Pathaan will release yet another movie Jawan. Conjuring universe movie ‘The Nun 2’ will also release next month along with yet another Prabhas starrer, Salaar Part 1.

Added to that, the biggest competitor of theatres, the OTT, is slashing budgets, forcing couch surfers to step out. “Recent Hindi films are hinting towards a revival, and we expect international OTTs to cut India budget by 20–30% in FY24, both of which bode well for PVR INOX,” says Nuvama.