The wait is over. Ramayana Part 1, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash, released on Thursday 5 November in more than 100 countries on more than 50,000 screens. In India alone it released on 9,000 screens, and no Indian film has ever released on this scale.
Morning shows averaged more than 20% occupancy across the country, while IMAX screens were nearly houseful. Crowds were expected to grow further for the afternoon, evening and night shows, and early reported figures point to a historic opening day.
A Release on an Unprecedented Scale
The scale of the release is itself a record. More than 50,000 screens worldwide and 9,000 in India make it the widest Indian release ever, and the film opened simultaneously across Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra and Yash, the film carries a reported budget of Rs 2,000 crore for Part 1 alone, and Rs 4,000 crore for all three parts. Ticket prices were raised to recover it: single-screen theatres average Rs 200, multiplexes Rs 350 to Rs 500, IMAX, 3D and 4DX Rs 700 to Rs 1,000, and premium and luxury formats go up to Rs 3,100.
Early Figures Point to a Record Day
By 12 noon on release day, the film was reported to have earned a net Rs 22.60 crore in India. The figure is an early reported collection, not a final Day 1 total, and it is expected to rise sharply through the rest of the day.
Reported figures from box-office tracker Sacnilk by 10 AM on Thursday put the language-wise split at: Hindi version 9,404 shows and Rs 16.04 crore; Kannada 649 shows and Rs 3.02 crore; Telugu 873 shows and Rs 2.27 crore; Tamil 442 shows and Rs 88 lakh; Malayalam 253 shows and Rs 39 lakh. Gross collection by the morning was reported at Rs 26.67 crore.
The Day-1 prediction puts India at Rs 90-120 crore gross and Rs 75-90 crore net, with a worldwide prediction of Rs 150-180 crore gross. If the prediction holds, the film would enter the all-time Day-1 chart, which is led by Pushpa 2: The Rule at Rs 164.25 crore India net and Rs 275.01 crore worldwide, followed by RRR at Rs 133.00 crore and Rs 223.00 crore, and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion at Rs 121.00 crore and Rs 217.00 crore.
Advance Booking Tells the Bigger Story
Advance booking before release stood at a reported Rs 50.08 crore gross for day 1, with 14.05 lakh tickets sold in India. The makers opened pre-sales for five days together, and by 7 AM on Thursday, five-day pre-sales till 9 November stood at a reported Rs 80.61 crore.
Hindi-speaking markets have the highest demand, followed by Kannada and Telugu, whose bookings are rising fastest. As much as 82% of the five-day advance booking came from the Hindi version. Advance booking at the PVR-INOX national chain alone crossed a reported Rs 25 crore.
What the Overseas Numbers Show
Overseas advance booking for the opening weekend is reported at over Rs 40 crore, and total global advance booking has crossed a reported Rs 140 crore. North America leads the overseas market, with more than 3 million dollars (Rs 28.42 crore) in advance booking including paid previews on 4 November, and more than 51,000 tickets sold for the opening weekend in the US alone.
That reported US advance figure beats the opening-weekend advance sales of Ranbir Kapoor's Animal (24,000 tickets), Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan (28,000), Allu Arjun's Pushpa 2: The Rule (35,000), Jr NTR and Ram Charan's RRR (35,000), Prabhas's Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (39,000) and Kalki 2898 AD (40,000).
Early reviews are good, especially praise for the visual effects, and the Ravana-Jatayu fight scene has impressed viewers. Word of mouth is expected to lift on-the-spot ticket booking through the day. Diwali on 8 November could dampen daytime footfall, as people stay busy with the festival, a period usually not considered good for the box office. But the morning response suggests the film is set to be a historic exception.
