EXCLUSIVE: Sanjeev Kumar Bijli shares fascinating data: “Pushpa 2 – The Rule gets 40 lakh admissions in five days in PVR Inox; 6-7% of footfalls come from re-releases”; also puts his bet on War 2, Ramayana: “Salman Khan's Sikandar could also work big time”

As 2024 is about to end, Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR INOX Ltd, talked exclusively with Bollywood Hungama about the trends of the year, the grand success of Pushpa 2 – The Rule, starting the re-release trend and a lot more.

2024 is about to end. How has the year been for PVR Inox? We measure in terms of the financial year and not the calendar year. After a slow Q1 and a decent Q2, Q3 seems to be well. In the first half, our revenues were about Rs. 2800 crores with an EBITDA of Rs. 187 crores. But Q3 looks good and if Pushpa 2 – The Rule continues to play the way it's playing and if Mufasa: The Lion King and Baby John also excel, then EBITDA for Q3 would be healthier.

Which film had the most advance bookings this year? Pushpa 2 – The Rule topped the list followed by Stree 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Singham Again.

Were the footfalls lesser this year than last year? Yes, there were. However, December looks very positive because of Pushpa 2 – The Rule. Also, we still have Q4 to go. Q1 was a bit of a bummer as due to the elections and IPL, several movies got postponed. If you remember, Pushpa 2 – The Rule was supposed to be released in Q1 earlier. Even Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par has been pushed from December to next year. All these reasons impacted footfalls to some extent.

Was it justified for our filmmakers to postpone film releases owing to the election season? Once elections got over, several films arrived and ate into each other’s business. These releases could have been well spaced out… We all look for well spread out releases but ultimately, it’s the producer’s prerogative. When producers have spent so much money on their films, they don’t want to take any chances. Moreover, the election lasted for six weeks and hence, we saw fewer releases in April and May 2024.

It was PVR that began the re-release trend in a big way by getting Rockstar (2011) back to cinemas. Do you feel these re-releases acted as a saviour for the theatres during the dry period? Q1 had very limited releases and as they say, necessity is the mother of invention (smiles). Someone in our organization came up with the idea of re-releasing Rockstar. This is because it was his favourite film, and he had a sense that it’d do well. It ended up doing Rs. 10 crores in its re-release. That opened our and everybody else’s eyes and we realized that we can look at it on a regular basis. We now have set up a small team in Mumbai who are looking at re-releases throughout the year. After Rockstar, Laila Majnu, Tumbbad, Kal Ho Naa Ho, etc. also did very well in their second outing. 6-7% of our footfalls have come from the re-releases.

On Diwali, two big films (Singham Again, Bhool Bhulaiyaa) arrived while Independence Day had as many as three releases (Stree 2, Khel Khel Mein, Vedaa). It led to a lot of problems over screen sharing. Would you like to see fewer clashes in 2025?

It’s difficult to answer because, during a festival, a producer wants to optimize the long weekend. This is when people are free and are enjoying their holidays. It’s a great time to pull people to cinemas. Even for us, two big films coming on a holiday weekend acts as a cushion strategy – if one film God forbid doesn’t do well, at least the other would, hopefully. Hence, clashes have become a norm. At the same time, this Christmas, we have only Baby John releasing. On Republic Day as well, we will have just one release. But Diwali is one of those festivals where clashes are bound to happen.

How is Pushpa 2 – The Rule performing in PVR Inox? In five days, it has achieved a footfall of over 40 lakhs. Hence, it's doing phenomenally well. A hit like this gives confidence to not just us but to the entire industry.

The blockbuster success of Pushpa 2 – The Rule has once again restarted the South vs Bollywood debate. Do you feel the Khans (Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan), Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor have the potential to give such a huge blockbuster? Yes, why not? They have also broken records in the past. Shah Rukh Khan did that last year with Pathaan and Jawan. Aamir had previously delivered an all-time blockbuster with Dangal. Ranbir’s Animal was a very big grosser. The box office collections also go up with the number of screens being added throughout the country. Around 100-120 new screens begin operations annually by us and other chains. In fact, anyone can deliver such numbers, the classic example being Rajkummar Rao with Stree 2. And that’s the fun and beauty of this business. Ramayana by Ranbir Kapoor also has the potential.

Can we expect new screens from PVR and Inox in the new year? We have opened 71 new screens until December. Before the end of the financial year, we’ll have 40 new screens. In the new year, we plan to start 100 screens. In fact, the plan is to add 100 screens every year for the next 3 years.

Recently, there were reports that large mall developers plan to shrink multiplex spaces in their future projects due to a fall in footfalls… I read only one article about it and hence, I don’t think we should take that seriously. The fact is that we are getting great response all over the country to put cinemas in malls. I guess the focus is on right-sizing. We used to take up large spaces and make 10 or 14 screens. Hence, the mantra is now to right-size it, depending on the market dynamics and movie-going culture. We are right now working with developers to understand how to optimize that space best.

Besides Ramayana, which are the upcoming films which you feel can work big time? Avatar: Fire And Ash should be big according to me. Sikandar with Salman Khan could work well. War 2 is looking very promising.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: RECORD 60 lakh admissions expected for Pushpa 2 – The Rule over the weekend in PVR Inox; Sanjeev Kumar Bijli shares FASCINATING details; opens up on sky-high ticket rates for Allu Arjun-starrer

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