With 11 days to go for the USA premieres, Ramayana and Dhurandhar 2 are almost level on gross in advance bookings. But look closer at the numbers, and Ramayana’s trend is clearly slower.
USA Premiere Advance Bookings (11 Days Before Premieres)
- Dhurandhar 2
- Gross: $540K
- Tickets Sold: 33K+
- Ramayana
- Gross: $520K
- Shows: 1,700+
- Tickets Sold: 23K+
Same Gross, Fewer Footfalls
On paper, the two films are neck and neck, with only a $20K gap. But Ramayana has sold about 10,000 fewer tickets than Dhurandhar 2 had at the same point.
The gross looks similar only because Ramayana’s tickets are much more expensive. A big share of its bookings comes from IMAX and premium formats, which pushes its average ticket price to around $22, compared to about $16 for Dhurandhar 2.
Footfalls Are the Real Concern
Ramayana could still end up ahead of Dhurandhar 2 in gross, thanks to higher ticket prices. But beating it in footfalls looks almost impossible at the current pace.
The bigger worry is momentum. Even with over 1,700 shows open, Ramayana’s daily ticket sales are growing slower than Dhurandhar 2’s did.
$3M Should Be the Target
Dhurandhar 2 opened with $2M+ in North America premieres, including Canada. For a film on Ramayana’s scale, with Ranbir Kapoor, Yash and Sai Pallavi and one of the biggest budgets in Indian cinema, the expectation was to open with at least $3M+.
Right now, the trend isn’t pointing that way. Ramayana needs a sharp jump in the final week to reach that level.
India Advance Bookings Also Need a Push
The story is similar back home. In India, Ramayana’s advance bookings have just crossed ₹10 Cr. For a film of this size, it needs much bigger momentum over the next week to set up a huge opening day.
The Final Push
The good news is that Ramayana has big triggers coming. The world premiere at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles is on October 27, and the final week before release usually brings the biggest jump in bookings.
Whether that’s enough to turn the trend around will decide whether Ramayana opens like the giant it was meant to be.
