Holly not out in infinity war

Patna: In the box office race, Hollywood is the clear winner in Patna these days.

In a trend never seen before, theatre owners in Patna are banking on Hollywood films instead of Bollywood to make money.

The biggest-hit ever in Patna so far has been clocked by Avengers: Infinity War, which has changed the perception among the theatre owners, who now believe that even films of stars like Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan do not bring in such good business the way the Hollywood has been fetching for the past few years in Patna.

Avengers, which released on April 27, entered the fourth week but the film is still being screened at a few theatres. To top it, even Deadpool 2, which released on May 18, has been slotted quite a few shows in Patna.

Suman Kumar Sinha, the chairman-cum-managing-director of Regent Theatre Pvt Ltd, said: “Except a few star-filled films from the Bollywood stable, we are surviving on Hollywood. There is a craze among the youths to watch fiction these days and it is the youths which make a large chunk of the audience. Marvel and DC comics have understood this and are making movies accordingly.”

Avengers has proved to be a major gainer having crossed Rs 200 crore at the box office in India. Even Bollywood biggies have failed to achieve such a revenue. The film got 28 shows at one time in Patna, which included 16 shows in Cinepolis followed by Regent Fun Cinemas, Elphinstone and Mona.

Despite entering the fourth week, the Anthony Russo and Joe Russo film is still running in five shows in Patna in three theatres and Deadpool 2 has been slotted for 16 shows.

Raazi, which released on May 11, was slotted for 16 shows and the Amitabh Bachchan-Rishi Kapoor-starrer 102 Not Out got only four.

In Patna, Avengers so far has done a business of Rs 10.5 crore and Deadpool 2 has already collected Rs 1.7 crore in just one week.

The Alia Bhatt-starrer Raazi and 102 Not Out on the other hand collected less compared to the recent Holly releases. Raazi has been able to collect Rs 60 lakh so far, whereas 102 Not Out, which released on May 4, managed to earn only Rs 55 lakh because most shows have been occupied by Hollywood films.

A theatre owner in Patna said: “We are surviving because of Hollywood films. Otherwise we would have shut shop by now. Even Salman and Aamir Khan films go empty after a week because there is no excitement among people. There was a time when China had just 1,500 theatres and today it has crossed more than 10,000 only because there is business. On the other hand, there were 11 theatres in Patna but today it has come down to six, including small theatres, which screen only Bhojpuri films. If we depend on Bollywood we will not be able to pay our employees and meet other expenses.”

However, the trend is a little different in the first-tier cities. Rajesh Thadani, an exhibitor based in Mumbai, said: ” Avengers is a big franchisee and has a huge following. These big Hollywood films are like Shah Rukh and Salman Khan films. Such Holly films look for multiplex releases so Avengers got almost 2,000 screens with an average of 10 shows a day per cinema. Not all Hollywood films get good shows.”

Courtesy: The Telegraph