'Animal' vs 'Sam Bahadur': Ranbir Kapoor's film to post an opening collection of Rs 40 crore, Vicky Kaushal's movie expected to earn between Rs 5-10 crore - Exclusive

‘Animal’ vs ‘Sam Bahadur’: Ranbir Kapoor’s film to post an opening collection of Rs 40 crore, Vicky Kaushal’s movie expected to earn between Rs 5-10 crore – Exclusive

December is starting on a grand note at the movies with two highly anticipated movies – ‘Animal’ and ‘Sam Bahadur’ releasing tomorrow. While it seems like a big clash between two phenomenal actors – Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal, both these movies belong to varied genres. The treatment, budget, the number of screens that they’re releasing in – all of these factors will play a huge role in determining their box office success. So, ETimes spoke to some exhibitors and distributors to get a clearer picture of this clash and more details into the expected advance opening number, the footfalls expected, the number of tickets sold amidst much more! Read on…

Number of screens and number of tickets sold!

The release of ‘Animal’ is far wider and it’s based on the demands of the audience. Film distributor Rajesh Thadani says, “Animal has gone all out, with a release in around 4,500 to 5,000 screens which is the maximum. And the number of screens occupied by ‘Sam Bahadur’ would be in the range of 1,500 to 2,000 screens.”

Film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi says that the number of screens is not something which is decided by the theatres randomly. “Based on how much demand there is from the audience, we work towards optimising the showcasing of the film. If you look at the difference, the parity in the advance booking figure is 3,15,000 on one side, versus 10 to 12 thousand tickets for Sam Manekshaw. So, one sees the difference. And I’m not taking away anything from Sam Bahadur. It’s a subject that’s close to every Indian’s heart. It truly is the story of one of India’s greatest sons. And I truly hope that it goes from strength to strength and becomes an iconic film and earns the respect and love it deserves,” he said.

Predicted opening number for both the movies

Thadani says, “We can expect a number of about Rs 40 crore from Animal on Friday, while ‘Sam Bahadur’ should garner around Rs 5-10 crore.” Again clearly, this difference in number is also proportional to the number of screens occupied by these movies. CEO, PVRINOX Pictures, Kamal Gianchandani says, “I can tell you that Animal is doing fantastic advance and amongst the two films, the advances for Animal are higher. But at the same time, Sam Bahadur is also getting a lot of traction, it’s also got very good advances. I think the industry on the whole and exhibition sector and the respective producers of both films are in for a grand opening tomorrow and a very strong run at the box office in the subsequent days. Suffice it to say that both have got enough capacity to meet their expected demands.”

Experiment at Gaiety Galaxy!

Manoj Desai, Executive Director of Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir Cinema says, “As of now most of our shows are full. We have taken 6 shows of ‘Animal’ and 4 shows of ‘Sam Bahadur’ at Gaiety Galaxy. We have never had a show at 10 am but we’ve kept it for ‘Animal’. It’s an experiment and we’re doing this for the first time. It will be interesting to see how the audience responds to it. But advance booking toh bohot pyaari hui hai (The advance booking of ‘Animal’ is lovely).”

Good times ahead

While December is set to begin with a bang at the movies, the entire month is expected to be good with ‘Dunki’ and ‘Salaar’ also releasing later this month. Kamal Gianchandani adds, “Not just the first weekend, I think the entire run, which could be two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, hopefully more, would be a very strong number. And we’re looking forward to this December month, which invariably is the best month in the entire year because of the festivities and the whole conduciveness of the weather, the fact that the whole world is pretty much on a holiday. It’s a good time to come and visit theatres and generally December is a good month for the industry.

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