Pathaan Has Phenomenal First Day
Wednesday 25 January 2023 22.30 ISTBox Office India Trade Network
Pathaan has recorded a phenomenal opening day at the box office as it takes a 50-51 crore nett collection in its Hindi version as per early estimates. The film has smashed non holiday records by leaps and bounds as Bahubali - The Conclusion (Hindi) was the biggest non holiday opener before Pathaan. The opening day is also among the top openers of all time as War (2019) collected 50 crore nett and KGF 2 (Hindi) (2022) collected 52 crore nett respectively but on holidays.
There is no doubt the film would have been the highest opening day if it was released on Thursday (Republic Day) which is a national holiday but the Wednesday release is more beneficial for a bigger weekend and that is more important.
The Wednesday release has held the film back in certain sectors in the Hindi belt Gujarat / Saurashtra, CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan but they should show a good jump in collections tomorrow. The other Hindi belts of UP and Bihar have performed far better. though even here the traditional Friday release or a national holiday will yield better results. Some centres in these areas had issues with protests which also hampered collections and basically these are troublemakers which mange to keep some of the audience away but this should settle eventually.
There will be records falling as the film could smash the records of KGF 2 in Eastern India while the records of War look like being obliterated in the South. KGF 2 was released in regional languages in the South so collections for Hindi were minimal there. The film is sure to create circuit records but just remains to be seen where.
The collections of the film have given a huge boost to the ailing film industry as these phenomenal collections have come outside the holiday and it assures the industry that the box office is alive and kicking post the pandemic though the audience is now very demanding as to what they will pay for.
The box office of Pathaan and Avatar - The Way Of Water has also killed all theories of lower ticket pricing which were more in the media than within the industry. Cinema is a premium product and exhibitors and distributors need the product and when its there pricing does not matter. When its not there then today nothing can save it.
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