ALL BOOKED FOR 2018
As Salman Khan prepares for his Eid release next year, we look at how all festive weekends of the upcoming year have already been booked
Since 2009, he has had a solid and fruitful connect with the Eid weekends thanks to blockbusters such as Dabangg (2010), Kick (2014) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), among others. Probably, seeing Salman Khan’s complete dominance over the Eid releases, 2018’s festival slot has also been blocked by producer Ramesh Taurani for the superstar’s next, Race 3.
Taurani explains, “Everything – including the timings – worked out in such a way that we can meet the Eid deadline. Also, we all know that Salman’s films do exceedingly well on Eid, so it would be great not just for us but the entire film business too.”
TTHE BIG LINE-UP
Interestingly,I not just the Eid weekend,w but all the big festivef weekends of 2018 have alreadya been booked even beforeb the current year ends. ToT start with, the Republic DayD weekend has three films linedl up – Sushant Singh Rajput-starrerR Chanda Mama DoorD Ke, Sidharth Malhotra anda Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Aiyaary,A and Rajinikanth and AkshayA Kumar’s 2.0. The Holi weekendw will see Tarun Mansukhani’sM Drive starring Sushant.S
Experts feel advance bookingsb “can be advantageousa for everyone”. “For starters, a big film – which has high stakes – releasing on a festival weekend makes complete sense as the business goes up by at least 15-20 per cent on the festival day, which can be critical for a big-budget film,” says exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi.
NO CLASHES
The list continues. So if 2018’s Independence Day will see Akshay’s Gold hitting the screens, Diwali has Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaifstarrer Thugs of Hindostan, and Christmas will see Aanand L Rai’s next starring Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina.
“For us, announcing in advance meant that there won’t be unnecessary complications or injustice to anyone vis-à-vis two films releasing on the same big weekend. So, that way, things remain absolutely clean,” says Rai. prashant.singh@hindustantimes.com
Like film-maker Aanand L Rai, producer Ramesh Taurani and exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi also admits that pre-bookings “give a lot of clarity” in terms of new releases. Says Taurani, “If you announce a film’s release date in advance, it helps a lot because other film-makers become aware of the release schedule, so there are less chances of two movies — especially the big ones — releasing on the same day.”
WAY IN ADVANCE
Interestingly, films such as Thugs of Hindostan and Rai’s next were announced over a year in advance. Ask Rai what the logic could be behind announcing a release date so early and he says, “As far as we are concerned, we always knew that the film will be challenging — emotionally as well as mentally, and plus we have a big star (Shah Rukh Khan) featuring in it, so it became important for us to give ourselves a deadline to haveh a clear journey in mind,”m says Rai.
Rathi, on his part, calls such pre-bookings a “healthy trend”. “It helps film-makers planp their release strategies well, especially since there are multiple films vying for screen space on any given Friday. So, such a practice should be encouraged as clashesc only lead to business gettingg affected,” he says.