Bollywood’s box office run fades as Bunty Aur Babli 2 underperforms

Bunty Aur Babli 2, a multi-starrer film that was predicted to gross Rs 6-8 crore on its opening day, did not do well. Bollywood’s box office performance has declined after a stellar run, owing to its most recent offering, which failed in its opening days. Despite the presence of prominent stars like Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee, the Bollywood offering failed to draw a significant audience to the theatres, earning roughly Rs 2.5 crore on its first day.

In a previous interview with Money control, film producer and trade business expert Girish Johar claimed that the revival of Bollywood’s box office industry was dependent on how the future material performed.

He had stated that if the films Bunty Aur Babli 2 and Satyameva Jayate 2 starring John Abraham and Antim featuring Salman Khan perform well on opening day, Bollywood may witness a speedier rebound in sales.

Analyst Karan Taurani, Senior Vice-President, Elara Capital, however, predicted that pre-COVID recovery for medium and small films would be delayed compared to large-scale efforts, and that footfalls for such films would be low.

Footfall would rebound to pre-COVID-19 levels, he believes, if additional large-scale and high-quality content is combined with occupancy relaxation to 100% capacity in states like Maharashtra.

If huge Bollywood productions will fuel box office revenue, large-scale offerings have yet to match pre-COVID-19 levels of footfall and revenue. As a result, the small and medium film industry will continue to be important.

According to Taurani, Maharashtra’s contribution to Sooryavanshi’s overall box office collection, which represented for 21% of the film’s total, was lower than the pre-COVID average of 25%.

Sooryavanshi’s footfall has been 15-20% lower than it was before to COVID-19. “A tiny percentage of the crowd has yet to return to the theatre,” Taurani explained.

According to Shailesh Kapoor, CEO of Ormax Media, a media consultancy business, 9% of Indian moviegoers are unwilling to return to the theatre.