Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge to exceed historic Rs 1.5 billion sales on opening day box office collection
Advance bookings and global previews point to a record-breaking debut
Dubai: Ranveer Singh's spy thriller Dhurandhar: The Revenge does not hit cinemas until March 19, but it is already rewriting Bollywood's box office history. With worldwide advance bookings crossing Rs 560 million and projections suggesting the film could finish above Rs 1.5 billion in global pre-sales, the numbers are unlike anything Hindi cinema has seen before.
According to Sacnilk, the film has sold over four hundred thousand tickets in India for its premiere shows alone, generating approximately Rs 215 million domestically.
When overseas markets are included, particularly North America, which has contributed around Rs 270 million on its own, the combined worldwide pre-sales are already sitting at Rs 560 million plus.
Paid preview shows are scheduled for the evening of March 18, a day before the official release.
The records falling one by one
In North America, advance bookings have crossed $2.8 million for the opening weekend, surpassing the first weekend collections of several major Bollywood releases including films starring Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. The film is now tracking towards $3 million in the US alone, with Texas leading at $162,198, followed by California at $145,686 and New Jersey at $68,868.
Back home, the film introduced a brand new "Super Blockbuster Plus" pricing tier, with tickets at INOX Megaplex in Borivali, Mumbai reaching Rs 3,100 for recliner seats at premiere shows. Those tickets were nearly sold out as of March 12, beating Pushpa 2's previous record of Rs 3,000 at Maison PVR in Mumbai.
Trade analysts reported by The Financial Express are projecting the paid previews alone to land between Rs 350 million and Rs 400 million, which would be historic for Indian cinema. Opening day projections, including previews, are pointing over Rs 1.5 billion net in India.
What it means for Ranveer Singh
If the projections hold, Ranveer Singh is on course to join Shah Rukh Khan as the only Indian actor to deliver two consecutive over Rs 1 billion worldwide grossers. The first Dhurandhar earned over Rs 10 billion globally. Trade experts are now projecting the sequel to land between Rs 15 billion and Rs 20 billion.
Directed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar: The Revenge also stars Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, Yami Gautam and Sara Arjun. It releases in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam on March 19.
Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.
