Bollywood releases are only getting bigger by the day with every big movie hitting a few thousand screens worldwide, when its released. Its the turn of “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” this time. And although the Salman Khan starrer has received mixed reviews (especially in India), the movie has generated handsome returns across the world.
As has been observed with most recent Hollywood blockbusters, even ‘Prem Ratan’ recorded the highest ever opening of all time for a Bollywood film in India. Most reviews of the movie dub Sooraj Barjatya’s latest extravaganza as a highly predictable effort. However, the die-hard Salman Khan doesn’t car and their are millions of them around the world.
It also means that the business strategy of getting a big star and releasing it during a certain time of the year (Id or Diwali) can reap rich dividends.
The advantage that ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ had was that it was released during Diwali, the biggest holiday in India and for Indians around the world. Besides, the movie has a feel-good factor on predicated lines that touch family, loyalty, sacrifice and honor, and is filmed against magnificent palatial backdrops. Seems like the perfect film for a family to go out and watch during the holidays.
Shahrukh Khan’s ‘Happy New Year’ (HNY) was released in 5,000 screens in India and around 1,000 screens abroad, when it was released; the biggest release ever for a Bollywood movie, surpassing releases of films such as Dhoom 3 (2013), Kick (2014) and Bang Bang (2014) in recent times.
It was released during Diwali, it brought the successful pair of Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone together, and also brought SRK and Farah Khan together after a long time. So the makers of the movie released it on a larger scale, considering its blockbuster potential. Happy New Year featured Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan and Boman Irani.
Last year, Chennai Express was released across 750 screens abroad, Krrish 3 and Dhoom 3 also saw similar exposure abroad. Subsequently, Kick and Bang Bang managed to step up the game and their movie were released across up to 850 screens in foreign markets.
Chennai Express had the widest ever launch of a movie in India when it was released, and it also managed to gross well over couple of hundred crores (Rs). However, Krrish-3 took it a step further (at least in terms of nationwide release). And it seems Bollywood now wants to scale new heights with every new release.
Krrish 3 also saw the widest domestic release, spread across 5000 screens (eventually); the overseas release was much smaller (around 750 screens), one of the reasons because super-hero movies are pretty common place there. However, in India, its the only successful super-hero Bollywood film, probably after Mr. India (if you call it a super-hero film).
You can read about the detailed business analysis of Krrish 3 here.
