|| ZERO : Reviews & Box Office || DT Note P8 - Page 6

#ZERO CURRENT DAY 1 ADVANCE BOOKING Delhi NCR 21.7% (938 Sh) Mumbai 16.0% (745 Sh) Pune 15.0% (280 Sh) Bengaluru 35.9% (210 Sh) Hyderabad 52.3% (246 Sh) Kolkata 28.5% (282 Sh) Ahmedabad 12.3% (321 Sh) Time: 2:10 p.m[Thu]

The advance booking for Zero got some momentum this morning after an average response since it opened. The advance is well short of the likes of Thugs Of Hindostan and Tiger Zinda Hai but it is pretty much expected as those films were big action films and this is more of a love story.

The advance booking over the first few days were around the levels of Raees and Tubelight but since yesterday evening there is stronger momentum which has followed through today which means it should beat these films. Raees was an action film but as it had a regional feel the advance and even box office was always going to be restricted. It did have a clash but even with a solo release it could not have gone too far as business was going to be Mumbai / Gujarat mainly with Shahrukh Khan strongholds like West Bengal, TNK and Mysore helping a little.

Zero is a far superior product than Raees going by the trailer so if the advance was just at the level of Raees it would have been disappointing even though with Raees it would be said that it has more of the so called mass elements for an initial. But that is not how box office works and a universal looking film is more important which Zero potentially is.

The best advance for till date a Shahrukh Khan starrer (in terms of collections) till date is the Diwali release of 2014 Happy New Year and there is a chance that Zero should be able to beat that. Obviously the ticket sales will be less but the collections should be able to edge past Happy New Year if this momentum keeps pace.

The biggest advance for an outright Hindi film ever is Thugs of Hindostan released on Diwali this year and Zero has no chance of competing with that. It is also well short of films like Sanju and Race 3. Sanju the public just took a liking to the trailer and even the songs which was a first for Rajkumar Hirani film while Race 3 was a mass film with Salman Khan on Eid.

The advance will not be huge like a Shahrukh Khan starrer should get but its going to be a good number for the type of film it is which is not the huge bumper opener type but a film which builds momentum. The advance is building momentum slowly and more importantly the momentum should continue on Friday and through the weekend and there will be no looking back.

The advance opened late in some regions of the South as there is competition from local films so the programming schedule was completed on Wedensday.