The bad luck for Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn simply keeps on coming as their Diwali 2022 films, Ram Setu and Thank God, are both performing poorly on the box office. As the six-day holiday period comes to an end, the exhibitors estimate that the two films will perform at very low levels on weekdays as the footfalls continue to decline. The programmers have decided to drastically cut back on the films’ exposure.
Ram Setu would cost around Rs. 57 crores for a 6-day extended weekend, whereas Thank God will cost only Rs. 27 crores for a 6-day extended weekend. On the other side, the Kannada-dubbed movie Kantara, now in its third week, is raking in a tonne of money at ticket prices that are roughly 40% less expensive than Ram Setu and 30% less expensive than Thank God. The owners of the movie theatres have quietly begun to raise the Kantara showcasing by lowering the number of showings of Ram Setu and Thank God as they observe an upward trend in business day by day.
There have been less screenings of both movies on Saturday and Sunday, while Kantara has had more screenings. A small amount of showcasing will be cut for the weekend, but the main action won’t start until Monday, when a sizable portion of shows will either be cancelled or replaced to avoid reports of no one at the theatres. The distributors have strict guidelines for maintaining limited showcasing to prevent the unfavourable scenario of shows being cancelled due to no attendance. Things do not appear to be looking well for Ram Setu and Thank God, since some morning and lunchtime shows have already been cancelled for Monday.
On the other hand, Kantara may have 25 to 30 percent more shows starting tomorrow, including single-screen showcasing. The team is benefiting greatly from the low pricing strategy, as the movie has indeed had significantly higher attendance than Thank God and, as of Thursday, is practically on par with Ram Setu in terms of attendance.