The ongoing Holi festival weekend — coupled with most states and Union Territories now operating under 100% cinema hall occupancy — has given a ray of hope to film exhibitionists and production studios. Movie-lovers are looking forward to Akshay Kumar’s Bachchan Pandey out in cinemas this weekend across 2,500-3000 screens, in addition to the recently released money-spinner, The Kashmir Files. With more big-budget flicks, including RRR: Roudram Ranam Rudhiram (starring Jr Ntr, Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt) and the Aamir Khan starrer Mogul, lined up over the next two months, the industry is likely to get a further fillip.

According to a report by LocalCircles, there will be a threefold increase in the percentage of cine-goers in the next 60 days, as compared to those in December 2021.

In addition to the duopoly of Bachchan Pandey and The Kashmir Files this weekend, releases from the last two weeks — including Alia Bhatt-starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi and Prabhas’ flick Radhe Shyam — have contributed to renewed interest in cinema.

But in the current Holi weekend, it remains to be seen which movie will dominate. Karan Taurani, senior vice president, Elara Capital, points out that since the content of Bachchan Pandey is seemingly not too compelling, it may lag behind competitor The Kashmir Files which, according to media reports, crossed Rs 78 crore in box office collections until two days back, and is slated to report lifetime box office collections worth Rs 125-130 crore. “Bachchan Pandey will fall short of Rs 120-crore mark, and probably end up collecting around Rs 70 crore,” Taurani notes.

While the Holi weekend may not be the biggest draw of 2022, it may be enough to offset the Omicron wave impact, according to experts.

However, despite most states operating at 100% occupancy and witnessing audiences similar to pre-Covid levels, two important regions, Punjab and West Bengal, are yet to open at full occupancy. Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat combined contribute around 65% of the total box office collection in India.

“When it comes to footfall, in the third quarter of FY22, the industry saw a recovery of 60% as compared to pre-Covid levels,” Taurani shares. “However, due to the Omicron outbreak early this year, the current financial quarter collections will be down by 50%. However, this will be revived by 90% with the movies coming up.”

With Covid-19 cases currently at an all-time low, and with a robust content pipeline ahead, Q1 of FY23 is predicted to be among the best for the box office business this year, according to analysts. Although, to attract more audiences, Taurani states the obvious: good quality content is what will be the big draw. “I don’t think we are in this era now where only the face of an actor attracts audiences in cinema halls; it is the content, whether we talk of real-life stories, biopics, or large-scale content like Sooryavanshi and The Batman, that have the potential to bring in the footfalls,” he adds.