PK has opened to near full houses at multiplexes across the country on Friday. The early morning shows opened slow, some multiplexes were as low as 30-35% for shows that start at 8:30 in the morning, but as the day progressed, premium multiplexes were recording 100% collections.
The best response has come from cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida, Gurgaon, Kolkata, Pune – even though ticket prices here are selling at a premium, people were seen lining up to catch the Rajkumar Hirani – Aamir Khan film. At smaller centres too, the response has been very good. Exhibitors from south Indian centres like Mangalore, Mysore (city), Coimbatore (where PK is competing with Lingaa) have been reporting high occupancies for shows that start 10AM onwards.
3PM Update: PK is going from strength-to-strength at multiplexes. Ticket prices hasn’t affected business at premium multiplexes, where tickets are selling at all time high rates. Mass centres like C.I, C.P, Bihar, UP are average at best, but a film like PK was never to be expected to take a bumper opening here.
6PM Update: At metros, PK is on par with Happy New Year on a working day! Most night shows are sold out in advance in cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune.. It remains to be seen if the cold wave affects late night shows in North India, where the advance is lower than other places.