After a wait of over 13 years, James Cameron finally returns to take the audience on a ride with his visual spectacle, Avatar: The Way Of Water. The film is a sequel to the 2009 cult, Avatar, and marks the beginning of a universe which expands into a five-part franchise. The epic tale of fantasy is among the longest films in the recent times, as the movie has been certified U/A by the Central Board of Film Certification, with an approved runtime of 3 hours and 12 minutes.
On the release front, Avatar is set to be the widest Hollywood release of all time in India, with an expected screen count in the range of 3900 to 4100 screens. The count has been kept under wraps for now, as it is ever changing in the dynamic world and the studio is aiming to go as wide as possible with the film. The first Avatar did a business of Rs 100 crore in India, much before the century was a norm, and the expectations are on Avatar 2 to again recreate history in the long run. The advances for Avatar opened a while back and the response has been excellent, especially in the South Indian Markets.
The movie is looking to collect around Rs 17 to 20 crore nett in the four South states – Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – whereas the Northern market is expected to rake in anywhere between 16 to 18 crore, depending on how strong the spot bookings are. The first day business of Avatar should be in the North of Rs 35 crore nett, though if the walk-in audience comes on board, specially for the 2D shows in the interiors, the film might just hit the Rs 40 crore number.
On the advance front, the three national chains, PVR, Inox & Cinepolis, have sold around 2.75 lakh tickets for Friday until 3 pm on Thursday, and the final is expected to be in the vicinity of 3.50 lakh. To put things to perspective, Spiderman: No Way Home had sold around 5 lakh tickets in the three chains, whereas Doctor Strange advances was in the 4 lakh range. While the film is a little below the two big marvel superhero films for Friday, the advances for the weekend is higher, and this is primarily due to the target audience factor. While the Marvel Superhero Films were more front loaded due to the Youth Connect, Avatar 2 is more of a family driven film, and hence, the core audience will start coming in over the weekend and then help the film sustain consistently on the weekdays.
The word for the West is encouraging and this gives a hope for the box office in India to end with a bang. An excellent start is on the way for Avatar 2 in India, and if the talk of Indian audience resonates with what the critics from West have to say about Avatar 2, sky is the limit for the film as far as box office returns are concerned. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates on Avatar 2.
via: PinkVilla