Despite Suriya coming off the success of Karuppu, Vishwanath & Sons is seeing surprisingly low advance bookings across India. The film’s Day 1 advance booking is currently around Rs. 5.5 crores. For a star returning after a successful film, this is lower than expected. The slow bookings have raised concerns about whether the film can bring big crowds on the opening day.
The stakes are high. Vishwanath & Sons reportedly needs around Rs. 210 crores gross worldwide to break even, with a distributor share of around Rs. 130 crores. A strong opening is therefore very important.
The North American market is slightly better. The film reportedly needs around $1.8 million to break even, while the US premieres are expected to collect around $300K. That is a decent start, but the film will need strong growth after the premieres to reach the target.
Interestingly, the low bookings do not match the reports coming from within the industry. Vishwanath & Sons is said to have received very good internal reports, giving the team confidence in the content.
Producer Naga Vamsi is also very confident. He said that as a producer, he has never been this confident about one of his films since Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. He also promised that audiences will laugh, cry and experience every emotion while watching the film.
Now, the film needs strong word of mouth to turn things around. If the first shows receive a positive response, the low advances may not matter much. A strong Friday and the Independence Day holiday on Saturday could give the film a big boost.
But if the response is only average, the high break-even target could become disastrous.
For now, Vishwanath & Sons has a clear gap between low advance bookings and strong internal reports. The real test begins when regular audiences start watching the film.
