Q. Do you think ‘Ghayal Once Again’ will have any effect on Airlift as the latter releases one week after...

Q. What is the response to the theatrical trailer of Dilwale in the general movie going audience and the trade? – Aashish Thapar A. The response has been mixed from the audience, which is always the case with most big films. The trade is super-confident though. Dilwale promises to be a mass-entertainer and if the film manages to entertain the audience like Chennai Express did, it’ll be unstoppable at the box office. The names associated with the film are enough to make it ‘hot’ in the trade. Shah Rukh Khan returns more than a year after his last film. The evergreen jodi of SRK – Kajol. Varun Dhawan is on a dream run at the box office and the youth love him. And then there is Rohit Shetty, who has films like Golmaal series, Singham series, Chennai Express. His films have a strong following amongst the family audience, especially with kids. In short, it cannot get bigger than a film like Dilwale. The ‘only’ hurdle is Bajirao Mastani. Q. Earlier, films that used to take 95-100% opening were termed as bumper openers but today a Prem Ratan Dhan Payo takes a 70% opening and is categorised as a bumper opener. Why? A. These days, big films get massive releases all over the country. A city like Mumbai which used to run around 300 shows of a big film on Day 1, now has more than 1500-1700 shows per day. When the release is so wide and the number of shows are so high, it’s impossible to achieve 100% occupancy in today’s times. In other words, the footfalls (number of people watching the film / tickets sold) on Day 1 has increased quite significantly, but the occupancy is on the lower side due to the size of release. Q. Doesn’t it make sense for Sultan to release on Diwali as SRK is already having a non-holiday release in Fan and Aditya Chopra is well aware of that to give SRK a solo release during EID? Shivaay and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil can come on October 2nd as that holiday is not taken yet – Trooper A. The release date of films is announced by the makers of a film, and it’s not decided based on what fans want. Every producer wants to give his film the best possible release. In the last 6-7 years, Salman Khan has dominated the Eid weekend and because of his success, he and the makers of Sultan (YRF) believe it’s the best time to release their film. Agreed that the makers of Raees announced their film first, but so did the makers of Bajirao Mastani. Since there are only 3 major festive weekends every year and everyone wants those dates, clashes are bound to happen. There is still a long way to go. Raees or Sultan can still shift to Gandhi Jayanti or Diwali. If they do, then it’s upto the producers of Shivaay and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil to take a decision. Part 1: Why is an ensemble cast viewed negatively? Part 2: Audience and trade response to trailer of Dilwale? Part 3: Will Ghayal Once Again affect Airlift at the box office?