The south Indian states began booking in advance for Kalki 2898 AD last weekend. As a matter of fact, the company’s official site Bookmyshow crashed after being opened due to the rush in bookings.
According to Sacnilk which tracks business trends in the industry, it collected 6.08 crore rupees and sold over 200,000 tickets for India based viewerships alone.
In Hyderabad alone, Kalki 2898 AD touched over 121 of its “almost full” shows out of a total number of 244.
Its Telugu version has performed best by selling as many as one hundred ninety five thousand tickets across formats like IMAX 3D, 2D and 3D so far.
Hindi edition was second with over seven thousand ticket sales. On the other hand, two thousand more tickets were bought for Tamil language film shows.
Additionally, the film also did well at its advance booking box office across North America where it sold seventy-seven thousand more tickets than any other country or territory on earth raking in $2.6m.
These current trends are seen as positive indicators for the movie actually; such is what Taran Adarsh had to say about this trend when he went further calling it “a tycoon.” “I go to Bookmyshow app –it’s insane,” he confessed.
According to trade experts, its massive ensemble is one of the prime reasons for it’s humungous buzz. Adarsh stated, “Only a few filmmakers can attempt a cast like this, all towering personalities. Anticipation is building, I won’t even say day, it is building by each passing minute”. Johar reiterated, “Kalki is a mammoth film with sky high expectations.”
According to Rathee, having the biggest names from different industries as absolute leads is a smart move. “Prabhas has a big Telugu market. There’s a huge buzz in Tamil Nadu too due to Kamal Haasan, and in Hindi belt, due to Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika. It is the biggest pan India film ever made,” he explained.
While Adarsh claimed that names like Bachchan and Haasan have only added to the movie’s sheen, it is definitely an important film for Prabhas who has been grappling for a hit ever since his last few films tanked, mainly Radhe Shyam and Adipurush. “When you are at a position of say, Amitabh Bachchan or Kamal Haasan, these things don’t impact. But, Prabhas has to deliver those numbers,” he added.
Prabhas’ mammoth fan following will however, help the film to hit the right spot. A hopeful Johar is looking out for “fantastic stats” overseas too. “It is almost given that Prabhas starrers’ day 1 numbers are Rs 100 crore for all languages. So, I’m expecting a century for this one too,” Johar said.
