MUMBAI: Akshay Kumar – Katrina Kaif starrer Singh is Kinng, which releases worldwide on 8 August, has managed to bag record number of shows at multiplexes across India, especially in Mumbai and Delhi.
Singh is Kinng will be releasing across 1400 screens with 1050 prints (including digital) in India alone. This, in itself, is a record! Prior to this, no other Bollywood movie has released with so many prints. Last year’s biggest hit Om Shanti Om released with approximately 925 Prints (including digital) in India.
Some of the factors working in the movie’s favour are that no other movie is releasing on the same day. Secondly last week’s releases Ugly Aur Pagli and The Mummy: Return of the Dragon Emperor haven’t faired well either. Moreover, multiplexes too are capitalizing on the buzz of it being a Akshay Kumar – Katrina Kaif starrer. To add to all this, the movie was even sold for record prices by Studio 18 in each of the territories to sub distributors, therefore recovery is also essential.
For instance, in the Punjab circuit where the movie is jointly distributed by Sajid Nadiadwala and Cinemax, Singh is Kinng has as many as 27 shows daily at PVR Cinemas at Gurgaon’s Metropolitan mall and 26 shows daily at PVR Cinemas at Gurgaon’s Ambience Mall.
In Delhi, where the movie is distributed by Studio 18, PVR Saket II will screen 20 shows daily. Similarly, in Mumbai city where film is again being distributed by Studio 18, Cinemax Versova has allotted 29 shows daily to Singh is Kinng. Inox is playing 20 shows in its Nagpur property, whereas Metro Adlabs in Mumbai is playing 22 shows.
The advance bookings for the movie too have been fairly good in Delhi and Punjab, primarily because the subject of the movie is based on a Sikh with Akshay Kumar essaying the lead role. As of Tuesday, the advance bookings at PVR Cinemas in Delhi and Punjab amounted to Rs 3 million (Rs 30 lakhs) approximately.
While for this weekend, everything seems to be working in favour of Singh is Kinng, one will have to wait and watch for the audiences’ verdict to pour in.
On the other hand, the advance booking for Yash Raj Films’ Bachana Ae Haseeno starring Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba opens on Sunday, 10 August (release is on 15 August) and Eros’ God Tussi Great Ho starring Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra will also release on 15 August.
In the wake of these developments, it’ll be interesting to watch how Singh is Kinng gets placed in its second week.
