Last year Akshay Kumar had five pitches, of which four reached the Rs 200 crore club. This year was expected to be similar for him, but many of his releases were stalled due to the pandemic. His most anticipated film, Laxmii (previously titled Laxmmi Bomb) moved to a streaming platform without a theatrical release.
While Laxmii premieres during Diwali week, he misses the ‘maddening’ buzz that previous releases from Akshay Kumar have seen, says film business and trade analyst Girish Johar. According to him, the start of Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani was definitely a ‘100 million rupee potential project’ and if the film was released in theaters, it could have proven to be a huge crowd builder.
“Akshay Kumar is a big established star who comes with different types of movies and has a lot of traction at the box office. Before the pandemic, he used to come 3-4 times a year and all his films had enough buzz among audiences as well. that if Laxmii had been released in theaters, it definitely could have drawn a crowd, “said Johar.
He added: “The fear of safety in these coronation times is still there, but people are coming out. If the occupancy of cinemas is 5-10% right now, with Laxmii, it could easily have risen by 30 to one. 40% “.
OTT platforms have also opted for a different business model. Now, the success of a movie does not depend primarily on the starcast. “For the success of a film, we traditionally look at reviews from audiences and critics and then build on the profit the producers made. But the OTT business is completely different. There is no such methodology. Nor do we know the audience about the commitment. nor the business perspective. Although I’m pretty sure the Laxmii producers must have made their share of the profits, otherwise they wouldn’t have skipped theaters and taken the OTT route, “Johar said.
Last month, movie theaters in various states opened their doors to customers after many months. The Maharashtra government also announced the reopening of cinemas across the state on November 5, with 50 percent occupancy. But exhibitors are struggling to recover.
The reopening brought back previously released movies like Housefull 4, Street Dancer, Tanhaji, and John Wick 3 as well. But the lack of new content, the lost magic of the great Bollywood artists, and the fear of the virus have kept people away from the cinematic experience.
In a setting like this, Johar believes that ’83’s Ranveer Singh and Akshay Kumar’s Sooryvanshi are the only hope for a box office resurgence. They plan to have a theatrical release during Christmas 2020 and early 2021, respectively.
While Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi will bring Akshay Kumar back to the police avatar, Ranveer Singh will be seen in the highly publicized ’83 as Kapil Dev, who captained India’s first campaign with victory in the cricket World Cup in 1983.
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