Dhurandhar:The Revenge Advance Sales Explode Ahead of Release

But that surge in bookings is happening 12 days before the release of the film, while the bulk of Bollywood films start advance sales three to five days prior to its release. To this end, only the paid preview shows on March 18 can be booked, and they are also restricted to major national multiplex chains PVR INOX, Cinépolis, and MovieMax Cinemas.

A handful of other cinemas have already started selling tickets ahead of schedule, while many more will begin selling later. The apparent intent is to squeeze premium-priced preview screenings before opening remaining show inventory. 

But it will likely only be the end of the day to roll out advance bookings for an entire opening weekend from the start, with demand soaring quickly. Showcasing for the preview day is also a striking spectacle when considering the scale of what has been shown. In the movie's two-to-four screens in multiplexes, only the last two shows of the day have been allocated exclusively. Larger multiplexes with six to ten screens have allocated the biggest chunk of their screens to the film, leaving only a handful for other titles.

As the release date approaches, those remaining screens may even move to Dhurandhar: The Revenge. That broad exposure will add massive capacity to the preview. The film boasts that its runtime is nearly four hours long, meaning each screening could take somewhere around 4.5 to 5 hours, accounting for intervals and turnover time. As a result, in many theaters, the second show can start around 10 PM or later. Though a few regions might have much less capacity for such late-night screenings, metro cities are likely to meet solid attendance, and the earlier ones would probably be lard. 

Given the huge number of screenings and some early sales traction, the first preview shows alone could generate about ₹15–20 crore nett with even bigger numbers to come. Now, the largest preview-day collection in Bollywood to date is that of Stree 2, which grossed ₹8 crore nett from its preview shows alone. Paid previews were a staple of Bollywood as early as the late 2000s/early 2010s, but the practice has dwindled.

 One reason was that preview earnings were commonly viewed as cushioning the blow of opening-day box office metrics, which the industry has historically emphasized. Recently, though, it has become more prominent as pan-India box office reporting has added preview collections to day-opening totals. It could be that the trend might soon revert to large-scale paid previews for big releases.