Housefull 5 Strategy Backfires: Huge Losses?

Housefull 5 has been doing decent business at the box office so far. While the film was released in two different versions, titled 5A and 5B, the latter’s shows were reduced from the second day. The reduction of shows continued from Sunday, June 8.

As of June 9, 2025, multiple theatres have preferred to run the film with more shows for the 5A version. A few theatres also allotted a similar number of shows for each version, such as PVR Lower Parel. However, the 5A now has only 13 shows at the same place.

On the other hand, MovieMax Sion did the same, and a similar strategy was followed in other theatres across India, including cities such as Patna and Chandigarh. Notably, some of the theatres have completely removed the 5B version, and they are now playing only 5A.

The owner of Surat-based The Friday Cinema also said that people were confused about both versions, with a few people believing that 5B was a sequel to 5A. Furthermore, the majority of the audience selected 5A while they were purchasing tickets on platforms like BookMyShow.

A few theatre owners claimed that the film should never have been released in two versions and that 5A has attracted more audience since it appeared first on any website.

Producer Sajid Nadiadwala was trying to attract more people by releasing two versions. However, the above-mentioned situation has proved that audiences are confused since there was no proper announcement in the form of a teaser or trailer about 5A and 5B.

The film is expected to collect Rs. 115-120 crores this week, and the numbers could have been better if the makers had made some effort to create awareness about both versions among the audience.

The film needs to recover its reported budget of Rs. 225 crores. Let’s wait and see if Housefull 5 will bring heavy profits for everyone involved with it at the end of its theatrical run.