Ra.One all set to release today on 4,600 screens

Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One, which has over Rs 150 crore riding on it, is poised to break all records with its presenter, Eros International, splashing tomorrow the science fiction superhero film in 2D and 3D formats across 4,600 screens globally — 3,500 of them in India.

The hope is high in the industry. “Ra.One opening day collections are expected to touch at least Rs 25 crore,” says film trade analyst Komal Nahata. “No other Bollywood film has had such wide release in the past.”

In India, the movie will be released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Of these, 600 are in 3D. In comparison, Salman Khan’s Bodyguard was released on August 31 across 2,700 screens —and collected Rs 22 crore net on day one and Rs 85 crore net on the extended five-day weekend.

Seeing SRK’s popularity overseas, this 160-minute movie written and directed by Anubhav Sinha will be having multiple premiere across the globe. Such shows just over in Dubai and London, while it will be held in Toronto tomorrow. Also, there will be the release non-traditional markets like South Korea, Taiwan, Europe and Latin American countries.

Analysts tracking the film sector say that Ra.One, produced by SRK’s wife Gauri Khan, needs to do over Rs 250-300 crore at box office for the film to be profitable. The film, also starring Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal among others, is estimated to yield Rs 100 crore in its extended five-day weekend and Rs 125 crore over the next nine days.

Sunil Punjabi, CEO, Cinemax says this is going to be “one of the biggest releases” that any Indian cinema has seen so far. “We have so far sold about 30,000 tickets, without any block booking. Of this, 70 per cent are 3D tickets.”

Adds Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer of BIG Cinemas (west and south): “The tickets for Wednesday and Thursday are almost sold out.”

Being a Diwali weekend, multiplex and theatre owners have cashed in by hiking the ticket prices almost 35 per cent for evening shows and over 100 per cent for morning shows. Ra.One in 3D could cost in the range of Rs 450 to Rs 600.

Till Monday night, it was uncertain whether the 3D release would make it in time as the producers semeed unable to meet the deadline.

Multiplexes had stopped all ticket bookings for the release of the 3D version. But SRK tweeted late night, “Its official 3D version is ready for Wednesday & trust me it looks awesome. So see Ra.One once in 3D & 1ce in 2D at least. Am I being greedy?”

It is believed that SRK hatched the story five years ago, but found that the technology needed for the movie expensive. The movie now has around 3500 VFX shots, which is even higher than James Cameron’s sci-fi optical candy Avatar.

Most production houses and industry insiders are predicting that the look of the movie is so immersive that the special affects used could raise the bar for Indian cinema.

Even multiplex operators are cashing on Ra.One. They feel it is the right time to upgrade their infrastructure especially with the film-makers fetish for 3D movies these days.

According to Kapil Agarwal, director of UFO Moviez, there were only 80 3D screens which UFO had installed a month ago, which has nearly doubled now. The fact that operators charge 30-35 per cent premium on tickets for 3D movies, is the icing on the cake.

Going by the way SRK and Eros have marketed and promoted Ra.One, the film is estimated to earn around Rs 125 crore in the first week from domestic theatres, said trade analysts. Even the stock price of Eros Entertainment has see with 18 per cent in current market conditions with the company’s scrip closing at Rs 266 on Tuesday on Bombay Stock Exchange.

The cost of making the film has been approximately Rs 180-200 crore, which includes print and marketing costs. Producers Eros International and Red Chillies Entertainment (SRK’s company) have already recovered up to Rs 102 crore through the sale of cable & satellite rights (Rs 35 crore to Star India), music rights (Rs 15 crore T-Series) and brand tie-ups (Rs 52 crore).

Ra.One has tied up with 25 brands — one of the biggest ever marketing blitzkrieg for any Indian film. Kamal Jain, chief financial officer of Eros International, says, “most of the marketing cost was borne by the brands which are associated with the movie.”