The devotional drama picked up 10 per cent on a discounted Tuesday and is running more shows than the newly released Mirzapur, trade estimates suggest.
Rs 2 crore in, and it still won't stop climbing.
Hanuman Ansh added Rs 10.50 crore on its fifth Tuesday, according to trade estimates reported by Pinkvilla, a 10 per cent jump over Monday that the outlet attributes to discounted ticket pricing. That takes the film's fifth-week cume to Rs 67.25 crore in five days, and its full theatrical run to Rs 137.35 crore nett in India. Pinkvilla's tracking suggests it should clear the Rs 150 crore mark by the end of this week.
What makes the number sting a little more for the competition is where it's coming from. This is technically week five for a film that released more than a month ago. Mirzapur The Movie opened last week and, by most tracking, should be commanding the bigger share of screens right now. Instead, Pinkvilla reports Hanuman Ansh is running the highest number of shows of any film in its own fifth week, discounted Tuesday and all, even with Mirzapur in the mix.
The money math is where it gets interesting
A Rs 2 crore devotional drama sitting past Rs 137 crore nett is not a normal outcome, and the outlet is calling it a super blockbuster with one of Indian cinema's highest return-on-investment runs. Per Pinkvilla's estimates, the producers could be looking at profits north of Rs 100 crore, and that's before digital rights get sold, which as of this reporting hadn't happened yet.
There's a wrinkle in how that profit gets split, though. Standard distribution terms after the third week apparently cap the distributor's cut at 30 per cent of nett as their share, per the report. Given that this is materially only the second week of a real box office run dressed up as week five, industry chatter cited by Pinkvilla suggests there's room to renegotiate those terms. If that happens, the distributor's side could pick up an extra Rs 20-30 crore in share alone.
Projections in this space are just that, projections, and Pinkvilla is upfront that these are trade estimates built off advance trends and market sentiment rather than certified numbers. But directionally, the film shows no real sign of slowing. The outlet's own tracking has it potentially running to Rs 300-400 crore lifetime if the current pace holds.
Online, the reaction has split the way devotional hits tend to. There's a wave of people, Varun Dhawan reportedly among the well-known names, praising the film outright, and there's a quieter counter-chorus online wondering if it's socially acceptable to admit they didn't love it. Both camps are watching the same number climb.
The real test is what happens once the discount-Tuesday bump wears off and Wednesday's numbers come in plain. If Hanuman Ansh holds its show count into a sixth week, the Rs 200 crore club stops being a projection and starts being inevitable.
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.