Owing to the coronavirus outbreak, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Thursday, 12 March, that all cinema halls, schools and colleges with the exception of those conducting exams, will remain closed till 31 March. With the Irrfan Khan-starrer Angrezi Medium set to release on 13 March, there’s a lot of chatter as to how the film will be impacted because of the CM’s decision.
The Quint spoke to film business analyst Atul Mohan, who echoed the concerns saying that Delhi is a major market for a movie like Angrezi Medium.
“I would assume that Angrezi Medium will see a drop of about 15 per cent of the collections because of theatres being shut down in Delhi.”Atul Mohan, Film Business Analyst
Atul Mohan added that Baaghi 3 is a mass entertainer, so it has managed to rake in decent numbers at the box office. “Baaghi 3 has done well across the country, whereas the target audience for Angrezi Medium resides in metropolitan cities like Delhi and Mumbai. So, this coronavirus scare is definitely going to have an impact on the film.”
Atul also said that it is difficult to predict how much Angrezi Medium would make on the opening weekend. “Most probably the collections will be low.”
As for the release of Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra-starrer Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar being postponed, there’s no news as of now. The film is slated to release on 20 March.
Meanwhile Rohit Shetty and team issued a statement saying that the release of Sooryavanshi has been postponed. Taking to Twitter, Akshay Kumar wrote, “Because our safety always, always comes first. Stay safe and take care of yourself.”
Not just Delhi, the Kerala government has also issued an advisory stating that cinema halls will remain closed till 16 March.
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