So far, the premiere advance pre-sales have grossed $1.5 million (excluding Canada), and Devara premieres will begin next Thursday, exactly seven days away.
To be frank, not only did the trailer receive mixed reactions, but even NTR’s promotional efforts haven’t significantly raised the bar. It’s not that anything went wrong, but the desired level of excitement hasn’t been created so far. However, this hasn’t affected the film’s hype, and the numbers make that clear.
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The fact that Devara’s U.S. premiere pre-sales are comparable to Prabhas’ Kalki 2898 AD and Salaar is a testament to the silent wave of excitement Devara is carrying.
There’s a chance Devara could become the first film to gross $1 million from Texas alone on premiere day, thanks to the massive movie fan base in Dallas.
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Devara’s Texas pre-sales are close to $500K now, and once it hits the $700K mark, it will surpass Kalki 2898 AD’s Dallas premiere gross. If it touches $1 million, it will set a sensational record by any yard stick.
Just pulling in $1 million gross from Dallas alone will be a topic of conversation among U.S. distributors for a while—it’s that big.
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Devara in Dallas is seeing unprecedented round-the-clock shows at Cinemark Dallas XD and IMAX Dallas. In this location alone, Devara will have 3 IMAX shows, 4 XD shows, and 33 standard shows—a shocking number never seen before for any film in the U.S.
Moreover, these 40 standard shows have been scheduled around the clock, with times like 4:50 AM, 5:00 AM, 5:10 AM, and 5:20 AM—something no Telugu or Indian film has ever seen in the U.S.
As for Kalki 2898 AD, its full run collected $3.2 million from Texas, which might not be possible for Devara unless the film generates extremely positive talk and benefits from a longer run.
All it needs now is a kick-ass action-cut trailer that will grab attention and further boost the sales for premieres. Not NTR’s promotions—only a well-cut action trailer can do it at this point.