The early trend of advance bookings in the US for Pawan Kalyan’s Ustaad Bhagat Singh is creating panic in trade circles. With just four days left for premiere shows, the advance bookings are currently moving at a slow pace compared to expectations for a film starring Pawan Kalyan.
According to the latest numbers, USA premiere advance sales stand at about $183,000, with around 8000 tickets sold so far till Sunday morning. When the rest of North America is included, the total premiere advance has reached roughly $200,000. While these figures are not poor, they are considered pretty dull for a big Telugu release starring a top star like Pawan Kalyan, especially with only a few days left before the premiere shows. The film will need a strong spike in bookings over the next few days to build momentum.
The film has already completed its theatrical business worldwide. The pre-release business for Ustaad Bhagat Bhagat Singh is valued at around Rs.140 crore distributor share including GST, or roughly Rs.120 crore excluding GST. To recover this investment and be considered a hit, the film will need to collect around Rs.225 crore gross worldwide, which is not tough but not easy either considering the current scenario.
According to trade websites, the Nizam territory alone has been sold for about Rs.50 crore, while Andhra has been valued at around Rs.54 crore (with a Rs.60 crore ratio). The Ceded region stands at Rs.16 crore, and overseas rights were sold for around Rs.12 crore.
Many recent films of Pawan Kalyan have carried high pre-release valuations but struggled to comfortably cross their break-even targets, including the much-hyped OG. Trade data shows the scale of business for his previous films, including OG at around Rs.170 crore, Hari Hara Veera Mallu at Rs.126 crore, BRO at Rs.100 crore, Bheemla Nayak at Rs.108 crore, Vakeel Saab at Rs.90 crore, Agnyaathavaasi around Rs.125 crore, and Katamarayudu about Rs.85 crore.
Adding to the tough road ahead for Ustaad is the competition from the highly anticipated Dhurandhar 2, which is currently dominating advance booking trends in all markets, including Nizam. Because of this strong competition, Ustaad Bhagat Singh will likely need extremely strong word of mouth and superb opening numbers worldwide to reach its break-even target and emerge as a successful venture at the box office.
Legendary filmmaker Singeetham Srinivasa Rao is returning to the director’s chair at the age of…
A recent alert from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services signals a key change in…
