Raksha Bandhan has seen sluggish ticket sales when it comes to advance bookings, with figures lower than even Samrat Prithviraj’s. Nevertheless, this is nothing to be concerned about as Akshay Kumar movies usually tend to see a dip in initial bookings but eventually manage to cover up with the spot bookings.
Raksha Bandhan looks to be in for an average opening at the box office, akin to a typical Akshay Kumar film, thanks to some spot bookings, mostly driven by its timeliness with the celebratory season of Raksha Bandhan. While a lower spot sale will spell disaster for the movie, it has already sold a reported 17,000 tickets at three national chains as of Wednesday morning, which is 10% less than the previous release, Samrat Prithviraj. With these trends in mind, the Aanand L Rai directed movie is expected to close its advance booking with 40,000 tickets sold, slightly lower than Shamshera (46,000) and significantly less than Laal Singh Chaddha (45,000). Currently, it has accumulated approximately 35,000 tickets in total across India.
As compared to Shamshera, the advances for Raksha Bandhan are roughly 13% lower; however, with the holiday factor, it is expected that the on-day ticket sales will help make up the lost ground. Though, in the national chains the advances are almost half of Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, Raksha Bandhan leads by around 40% in the mass areas. National chains are generally high contributors and thus, while it may recover some of the ground in mass areas, Laal Singh Chaddha is likely to lead on the opening day.
As of now, Raksha Bandhan appears to be off to a relatively ordinary beginning at the box office, likely to rake in somewhere between Rs. 8.5 and 10.5 crores, despite the presence of Akshay Kumar for the occasion. That said, the consecutive days of holidays that follow the opening should ensure that the movie manages to make its mark, even if not on day one. On the same note, Laal Singh Chaddha – set to release on August 11 – is facing similar challenges, as it currently remains a guessing game of how well it performs on the day of its release. Ultimately, it is a matter of wait and watch.
