BREAKING: Brahmastra to release in China on December 2; expected to get one of the WIDEST releases for a Bollywood film in the neighbouring country
Brahmastra was one of the most awaited films of 2022. The movie finally released this year, on September 9. The hype was tremendous and it resulted in an earth-shattering opening of Rs. 36 crores. The word of mouth was largely positive and hence, it continued to do fine business at the box office. It ended its domestic lifetime collections with Rs. 257.44 crores. Overseas too, it did well and collected Rs. 95.59 crores gross. The worldwide total gross came up to an impressive Rs. 402.07 crores. And this collection is going to improve next month.
It has come to light that Brahmastra will release in China on December 2, 2022. The Chinese poster is out and it has created a lot of excitement among fans. An industry expert told Bollywood Hungama, “The whole industry and trade will look forward to Brahmastra’s release in China. As we all know, several films in recent years have done exceptional business in the neighbouring country like Dangal (2016), Secret Superstar (2017), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2017), Hichki (2018), Hindi Medium (2017) etc. Moreover, Brahmastra is backed by Disney and it’ll make sure it gets a wide release in the country.”
The industry expert continued, “Usually, Bollywood films release in 4500-5000 screens across China. The exceptions were Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) which got a release in 6000 screens while Aamir Khan’s Dangal, which was released in 9000 screens. It now remains to be seen if Brahmastra’s screen count exceeds that of Dangal. Even if it doesn’t, it’ll surely be one of the biggest releases for a Bollywood film in the country.” Brahmastra is also expected to get a release in the IMAX screens.
Another source remarked, “It all depends on which local or Hollywood film is releasing alongside Brahmastra. That will give a clear idea about the screen count in the weeks to come.”
Before the pandemic, the Akshaye Khanna-Sidharth Malhotra-Sonakshi Sinha starrer Ittefaq (2017) was the last Bollywood film to be released in China, on October 25, 2019. Post-pandemic, things resumed with Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer Chhichhore (2019). It arrived in Chinese cinemas on January 7, 2022. Then, Ajay Devgn-starrer Drishyam (2015) was released in China on April 15 this year. Ram Gopal Varma has claimed that his film Ladki (2022) will soon release in the neighbouring country but there’s no confirmation of it. Meanwhile, another major Hindi film of 2022 that is certain to release in China is the Aamir Khan-starrer Laal Singh Chaddha.
Another trade expert, however, cautioned, “Brahmastra faces a few challenges. The China box office is not the same anymore. It has been affected by China government’s zero-COVID strategy, which involves frequent and often prolonged lockdowns in certain cities. It has also resulted in travel restrictions and economic hardships for the residents. It’ll be interesting to see if Brahmastra can tide over these challenges and emerge a success.”
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