Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Mouni Roy, released in theatres on 9 September. The film went on to earn over Rs 150 crore at the worldwide box office within 2 days.
There have been differing opinions about the box office numbers with some reports claiming that the film actually caused a huge loss to cinema chains like INOX and PVR. The Quint reached out to the chains in question to get a better idea of how Brahmastra has fared as a movie.
On the effect Brahmastra has had, Kamal Gianchandani, the CEO of PVR, said, "Brahmastra has exceeded expectations and at that level has performed very well. The fact is that in quarter 1 (April-June) of this year, the business was so good that we had the best quarter in the history of cinema exhibition business in our country."
"Some of the recent films that released in theatres have underperformed viz-a-viz expectations. Brahmastra changes the momentum in a positive direction given that films in July and August performed lesser than expected."Kamal Gianchandani
He also addressed the reports claiming that cinema chains like PVR and INOX suffered losses due to Mukerji's film, "Cinema chains play films on a revenue share basis so there is no question of losses. We don’t invest in films. We are a distribution platform; we play the film and we share the revenue with the producer. There is no question of losses."
As of 11 September, PVR collected Rs 9.64 crore nett box office on day 2 and Rs 8.18 crore on day 1, bringing the 2 day total up to Rs 17.82 crore.
Talking about how the film has affected footfall in theatres, Rajender Singh Jyala, the Chief Programming Officer, INOX said, “The footfall after the pandemic has been lower as compared to pre-pandemic but Brahmastra has helped that a lot. It has the highest turnout, maybe only behind K.G.F: Chapter 2.”
“I would also say it’s one of the top 5 film releases in recent times. Actually some of the other top films released during a holiday. That is not the case for Brahmastra and it still had great sales.”Rajender Singh Jyala
From INOX, the weekend (Friday-Sunday) gross earnings for Brahmastra were Rs 28 crore.
Ashish Saksena, the COO - Cinemas for BookMyShow gave us an insight into the ticket sales for Brahmastra.
“Ayan Mukerji’s latest directorial has set fans in a frenzy with BookMyShow already selling over 3.3 million tickets for the film on the platform and contributing over 53% of the box office collection for the film for the opening weekend alone.”Ashish Saksena
He added that the movie’s 3D and IMAX 3D versions outperformed. The Hindi version of the film has contributed to 87% of the ticket sales but the Telugu version is following close behind.
“The power-packed release is a testament that the Hindi film industry has the potential to contribute strongly to the industry and give cinephiles something to rejoice,” Saksena added.
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