Aamir Khan returns to the big screen after 4 years with his labor of love, Laal Singh Chaddha, an official adaptation of Tom Hanks classic Forrest Gump. The film reunites him with Kareena Kapoor after 3 Idiots and Talaash. Directed by Advait Chandan, Laal Singh Chaddha has been certified U/A by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) with an approved running time of 2 hours 44 minutes (164 minutes). The creators envision wide distribution across India, with a large concentration of shows in national multiplex channels.
The price is more or less in the popular space, well below the blockbuster price slab that was expected earlier today. The film is released on approximately 3,500 screens in India (including Tamil and Telugu) and will be shown in the north of 10,000 shows per day. Aamir Khan’s standout will have enough room to explode at the box office if the public reports are in its favour. It is a week long holiday as the film will enjoy Raksha Bandhan holiday on Thursday, Independence Day on Monday, Parsi New Year on Tuesday and finally Janmashtami on the second Thursday. These holidays are in addition to the usual weekend allowance on Saturday and Sunday.
The film is released on approximately 3,500 screens in India (including Tamil and Telugu) and will be shown in the north of 10,000 shows per day.
Himesh Mankad
Sure, there’s a clash, but Holiday’s lucrative week makes it easier for both movies to realize their true potential. Speaking of advance booking, Laal Singh Chaddha sold around 14,400 opening day tickets for national channels on Monday afternoon. Speaking of opening weekend sales, Laal Singh evenly split advances for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The overall 5-day weekend sale for Laal Singh Chaddha at the national channel is around 25,000. To put that figure into perspective, opening day leads are around 20% higher than Jug Jugg Jeeyo in national channels, however, 20% below 83 and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 at this point. (T-3 i.e. Monday noon vs Tuesday noon). For example, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 had sold approx. 3200 tickets at Cinepolis Tuesday noon, and Laal Singh in the same chain amounted to 2500. Jug Jugg Jeeyo, on the other hand, had sold out approx. 6600 tickets at the PVR by Tuesday noon and Laal Singh Chaddha stands at 7800.
The advances are however far superior to those of two other recent releases, Samrat Prithviraj and Shamshera. History has it that advances can paint the wrong picture of opening day, especially for holiday releases, and Laal Singh Chaddha also seems to rely primarily on on-site bookings to achieve a good day overall. 83 had recorded an overall opening day lead in domestic chains of around 1.20 lakh, while Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was slightly higher than the 1 Lakh tickets. Given the trends so far, Laal Singh Chaddha should see a lead north of 90,000, although the ideal target should have been much better than 83. There are still 2 days left and there is a strong possibility that Laal Singh Chaddha is making up for lost ground as it stars one of India’s biggest movie stars, Aamir Khan in the lead, but all is waiting for now.
83 had recorded an overall opening day lead in domestic chains of around 1.20 lakh, while Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was slightly higher than the 1 Lakh tickets. Given the trends so far, Laal Singh Chaddha should see a lead north of 90,000, although the ideal target should have been much better than 83
Himesh Mankad
Regarding the opening day, the holiday factor will stimulate activity. Advance booking trends point to an opening day in the range of Rs 14.00 to 16.00 crore, however, if reports are strong to result in a seat booking on the day, there is enough room for the film to register Rs 17 to 18 crore on day one, or go even further to get closer to the Rs 20 crore mark. It’s the pandemic and we’re still learning about the public’s visit to the big screen. In the pre-pandemic era, it was easy to gauge where a film was heading on the opening front based on the lead, but the game has changed dramatically in the pandemic era, it’s all about movement tickets on release day.
Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more cryptic analysis of Laal Singh Chaddha, only on Pinkvilla.
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