Pawan Kalyan’s ‘They Call Him OG’ is inarguably one of the most anticipated Telugu movies this year. The film generated huge hype among the fans and movie lovers with the announcement itself and the expectations skyrocketed after the makers released the teaser of the film on 2nd September 2023 on the occasion of Pawan Kalyan’s birthday. Living up to all the hype around the film, the bookings of the film started on a fantastic note in North America.
As we speak, more than 29K tickets have already been sold out for the premier shows with a gross of about $900K. The pre-sales of the film so far are sensational and it seems like the trend will continue until the premiere day(i.e. 24th September). Looking at the terrific bookings trend, a section of the media started mudslinging on the ticket sales trend and trying the undermine the hype around the film. Are the makers of the film trying to create false hype by doing the bulk bookings as claimed by a section of the media? The simple answer is a ‘NO’.
Multiple factors contributed to the terrific pre-sales of OG in the USA. The first and foremost factor is the genuine hype around the film among the people in the USA who usually watch premieres, a day before the release of the film in the USA. The promotional material released by the makers so far, worked big time among the premiere-going audience.
The posters, the teaser and the song, everything worked out. It is no exaggeration to say OG is the most anticipated Pawan Kalyan film after Agnyaathavaasi in 2018. Only the fans used to get excited for Vakeel Saab, Bheemla Nayak, Bro and Hari Hara Veera Mallu but for OG, the makers were able to build the interest and anticipation not just in fans but among the regular moviegoers as well.
The next major contributing for the $900K gross so far is the planning by the distributor, Prathyingira Cinemas. The distributor made sure to secure the highest number of premiere shows in XD/PLF/RPX format screens. So far, bookings are open for 450+ XD/PLF/RPX shows. No other Telugu film in the past had such a huge number of shows in XD format screens.
The ticket prices in XD screens usually are on the higher side when compared to the standard screens(i.e. in OG’s case, the premiere show ticket price is $25 in standard screens and $30 in XD screens). Fans and moviegoers in the USA, usually prefer to watch the premieres in XD screens and the fact that the distributor can secure a record number of XD shows, helped the film collect around $900K so far.
Post-COVID, there is a change in approach by the Telugu moviegoers in the USA. They are not turning up to theatres in huge numbers just because a film has a huge star in it. The audience is coming to watch the premiere shows only if the makers of the film can create hype right from the announcement of the film.
Let’s take the example of Rajinikanth’s last three movies’ premiere numbers in the USA. Lal Salaam was not even able to recover the release expenses and Vettaiyan was able to collect only around $850K from premieres but Coolie was able to collect $3 Million from the premieres. Does that mean the makers of Coolie did the bulk bookings to create the hype around the film? The answer is ‘No’. Coolie collected more than $3 million because it had organic hype around it and Lal Salaam & Vettaiyan did not collect the same amount of money as Coolie because both those movies did not have hype around them. The same logic applies to OG and Hari Hara Veera Mallu.
Comparing OG with Hari Hara Veera Mallu is like comparing apples with oranges. If someone compares both the films and tries to draw a conclusion, that means, they either have no knowledge of the movie business or they have some hidden agenda to mudsling on a film or hero.
Pawan Kalyan in the past created multiple opening day records in the USA. In fact, the premiere day record of Agnyaathavaasi with $1.5 Million+ in the USA is still not touched by any other Indian film that released in a single language. Even Bheemla Nayak, a remake film, was able to collect around $900K from the premieres in the USA right after the COVID-19 second wave.
Trying to undermine his stardom with one or two misfired films is not a wise thing to do. We are still twenty-two days away from the premiere day and going by the current trend, OG is all set to break most of the Telugu movies premiere day records at the North American box office.
Related