The December end will see the biggest box office clash in Indian cinema in the post-pandemic era. Shah Rukh Khan and Rajkumar Hirani's emotional drama Dunki releases worldwide on Decemer 21, whereas Prabhas and Prashanth Neel's actioner Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire arrives in cinemas a day later on Decemer 22.
In a recent interview, Salaar producer Vijay Kiragandur opened up on this much-awaited clash. Talking to Bollywood Hungama, Vijay said, "We don’t want things to be ugly. We are already having meetings with the exhibitors and distributors. When we have a solo release, the occupancy generally will be around 60-70%. Some screens will go to Aquaman but between Salaar and Dunki, we hope to get 50-50 screens in the best scenario. In such a scenario, if an occupancy of 90-100% is achieved, it’ll be a good result for both films." The Hollywood superhero film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom also releases in India on December 21.
"Even if we get more screens, the occupancy will anyway go down to 60% or 70%. What we are planning is that we should get more occupancy, even if we get fewer screens than what we would have got if Salaar was a solo release. Even Overseas, these discussions are going on. Programming is the key now and that’s what we are focusing on, without getting into ugly fights", added Vijay who heads Hombale Films, the production company behind Salaar. Red Chillies Entertainment has producer Dunki.
It's not the first time that Hombale Films and Red Chillies Entertainment are clashing at the box office. In 2018, Shah Rukh Khan and Aanand L Rai's romantic drama Zero released alongside Yash and Prashanth Neel's KGF Chapter 1 on December 21. The latter had emerged victorious back then since it grossed Rs 238 crore with a budget of Rs 80 crore, while the former couldn't recover its budget of Rs 200 crore and grossed Rs 178 crore worldwide.
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