Pathaan early box office predictions day 1: Shah Rukh Khan starrer set for ‘extraordinary’ opening; advance bookings surpass Rs 54 crore mark – Times of India

Shah Rukh Khan’s spy thriller opened to packed movie theatres in India on Wednesday in one of Bollywood’s top openings on record, despite protests from some religious groups over scenes they deemed obscene. The success of ‘Pathaan’, where Khan plays a spy fighting a militant outfit, is crucial for the Indian film industry that has seen a spate of high-profile flops since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“It has seen a bumper opening, the second-best in Bollywood ever, even on a non-holiday, mid-week day, when audiences don’t go to theatres,” said Girish Johar, a producer and trade analyst who tracks box-office figures.

Another report stated that ‘Pathaan’ sold about 5,56,000 tickets on the first day, just behind record-setter ‘Baahubali 2’s 650,000 on the first day.

Of the 5,000 Indian screens the film was playing in, the occupancy rate was a high 65%-75%, a rarity in Bollywood for a film opening day, especially as it was mid-week release and not a Holiday release.

The film be shown on 8,000 screens worldwide, the largest for any Hindi film release.

Due to the “unprecedented” response, exhibitors reportedly decided to increase the screen count of the spy thriller right after the first morning shows of the film.

Viral videos on social media showed audiences dancing inside theatres, waving their mobiles phones in the air and singing along with the songs from the movie as it played on the big screen.

According to a report on boxofficeindia, the Siddharth Anand directorial crossed the Rs 50 crore barrier in advance ticket sales. This is reportedly the first time that a movie crossed this milestone.

The film is looking to earn an estimated Rs 54 crore in advance ticket sales, putting it in the first spot on the list of the highest advance collections. Coming in second with a wide margin is actor Yash’s ‘KGF Chapter 2’ which earned Rs 42.50 crore and ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’ (Hindi) which earned Rs 37.53 crore. Hrithik Roshan’s ‘WAR’ earned around Rs 29.53 crore and the recent Ranbir Kapoor starrer ‘Brahmastra’ earned Rs 27.36 crore when it hit theatres last September.

The film follows the titular spy Pathaan who comes out of exile to stop terrorist group Outfit X, led by John’s Jim, from launching a debilitating attack on India. It marks the return of Shah Rukh on the big screen after over four years.

The movie, which has a guest appearance by Salman Khan as fellow spy Tiger under the Yash Raj Films franchise, is expected to earn between Rs 45-50 crore on the opening day signalling the much-needed revival of the Hindi film exhibition industry which struggled with a series of flops in 2022.