Pathaan: Theatres open early morning shows for Shah Rukh Khan-starrer due to huge demand in advance booking

The advance bookings for Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film Pathaan have surpassed all expectations in the three days they have been open. Already, the film has surpassed the advance collections of most post-pandemic Bollywood releases with many first day shows going housefull already. As a result, the film’s exhibitors are now opening early morning shows for the film for the first week, something that Hindi films hardly ever see.

While superstars’ films in the Tamil and Telugu industries routinely see early morning shows on day one, Hindi films do not usually screen earlier than 8am. But trade sources inform that for Pathaan’s day one, shows as early as 6am will now be opened across India. A source close to the development tells us, “Due to the unprecedented demand from fans and audiences alike, YRF will screen Pathaan from 6:00am in all formats in India.” The film is releasing in Hindi as well as Telugu and Tamil-dubbed versions, in regular as well as IMAX, 4DX, and ICE formats. The early morning shows will be opened for all languages and formats wherever slots are available.

Pathaan is part of Yash Raj Films’ YRF Spy Universe, bringing together the characters from the Tiger series and War. Apart from Shah Rukh, the film stars John Abraham and Deepika Padukone in pivotal roles. The Siddharth Anand directorial is slated to be released in theatres on Januarty 25. The pre-sales opened in India on January 18 and full advance booking opened on January 20.

So far, the advance booking for first day has seen a stupendous success. As of Saturday evening, the film has sold over five lakh tickets, amounting to over Rs 16 crore gross sales. This means the film has already surpassed tha advance booking collections of all Hindi films released since the pandemic hit, except Brahmastra. It is expected to cross Brahmastra’s Rs 17.70 crore figure on Sunday. Given the huge booking figures, trade experts are already predicting a record opening day for the film. The overseas advance booking has been success too with the film poised to break records in several territories.

Pathaan’s publicity campaign has been a departure from some of the recent big-budget Bollywood films in that the cast and crew have given no interviews and have not appeared on any shows for promotions so far. But given that it is Shah Rukh’s first major film role in over four years, the buzz has been phenomenal.