Film trade pundits expect the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ?Don 2-The Chase Continues?, a sequel to the 2006 release ?Don-The Chase Begins?, which releases this Friday, to set the box office ringing, and to continue the Bollywood tradition of blockbuster Christmas weekends.
Co-produced by Farhan Akhtar?s Excel Entertainment and Khan?s Red Chillies Entertainment, Don 2 is being distributed by Reliance Entertainment, the film-production arm of Reliance MediaWorks, and will be one of the most widely released films with nearly 3,500 screens in 41 countries. The film will also be released in Tamil and Telugu.
?In India, we?ll release it across 2,850 screens of which 500 will be 3D,? said Sanjeev Lamba, chief executive officer at Reliance Entertainment. ?We?ll hit about 650 screens overseas.?
?The Christmas weekend is huge internationally and we expect a great response from the audience,? he said.
Don 2, which is Shah Rukh?s second release this year after Ra.One, is estimated to have a production budget of R65-70 crore, with an additional R22-25 crore going into the marketing and promotion of the film.
Some analysts, however, believe that 3D conversion must have taken the film?s costs to R100 crore. ?I think the producers must have spent close to R100 crore,? said film trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
?They should recover the costs in the first week itself as much of the film is already pre-sold.?
It?s been reported that satellite rights of Don 2 have been sold to Zee Entertainment for R37 crore, making it one of the costliest film acquisitions. Earlier this year, Star India had paid R35 crore for Khan?s Diwali release of Ra. One .
?I expect a humongous response to Don 2… far more than what the first part generated,? said Adarsh.
?The 3D version will yield 10-15% more in revenues and the Christmas-New Year week will keep the box-office ringing.?
With no other releases this weekend, Don 2 is headed for a clear run at the multiplexes, which have dedicated 70-75% of their screens to the film. Some have even inflated their ticket prices by 10-15%.
?Festive weekends are always big and we see a lot of advance bookings,? said Sunil Punjabi, chief executive officer of Cinemax. ?With the kind of brand association the audiences have with Shah Rukh and Don 2, we expect a huge turnout for the film.? ?Many corporate bookings have happened and 35-40% have been pre-booked,? he said.
?We hope to cross the R100-crore mark in the first week,? said Reliance Entertainment?s Lamba. ?That will make it our third bumper release this year after Bodyguard and Singham.?