Multiplex chains' box office expectations a mixed bag this Holi weekend

Apart from the Shivam Nair-directed The Diplomat, other movies include major Hollywood re-releases, such as Christopher Nolan's Interstellar

CINEMA, CINEMA HALL, BOX OFFICE, MULTIPLEX

4 min read Last Updated : Mar 13 2025 | 11:37 PM IST

With the Chhaava’s spell waning, will the John Abraham-starrer The Diplomat and a clutch of re-releases be able to pull audiences to movie theatres this Holi weekend? The opinions are somewhat divided.

While PVR INOX and Cinepolis India anticipate a surge in footfall this festival weekend, Miraj Cinemas and MuktaA2 Cinemas are not very sure of it due to fewer new movie releases.

The Diplomat is the only major Hindi-language film to be released on Friday, the same day as Holi. So far, Vicky Kaushal-starrer historical action film, Chhaava – which was released on February 14 -- has been attracting people to theatres. But a month on, its magic is waning.

But PVR INOX is anticipating a significant surge in footfalls over the long Holi weekend, with an expected increase of nearly 30 per cent compared to usual trends.

Apart from The Diplomat, other movies are major Hollywood re-releases like Christopher Nolan-directed Interstellar and the best visual effects Oscar winner, Dune: Part Two. At the same time, PVR INOX under Amir Khan film festival will re-release 22 select movies starring the actor.

“This spike is largely driven by strong audience interest in The Diplomat, Interstellar, The Day the Earth Blew Up- A Looney Tunes Movie and the Aamir Khan Film Festival, which have been generating substantial buzz,” said Gautam Dutta, chief executive officer, revenue and operations, PVR INOX.

“The festival weekend, coupled with a compelling content line-up, is set to draw cinema-goers in large numbers,” Dutta said.

Cinepolis India too expects the holiday to be a significant reason to boost its occupancy level by 30 to 35 per cent.

“While actual performance will depend on the audience, early projections indicate a potential box office collection of around ₹40 crore to ₹50 crore for the movie,” said Devang Sampat, managing director (MD), Cinepolis India.

Sampat expects that The Diplomat will deliver box office performance similar to the last Holi releases like Crew, Godzilla vs Kong and Madgaon Express.

For Cinepolis India, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru are showing strong advance booking patterns.

But Rahul Puri, managing director of Mukta A2 Cinemas had a different take on this.

He told Business Standard that typically Holi is not always the best time for films to release as people don’t tend to go to theatres because they are out celebrating the festival of colours.

“The box office (BO) collection on Friday will not be up to the mark. Given that Holi is falling on a Friday, you would expect that collections will be affected,” Puri said.

Girish Wankhede, a movie trade expert, said that last week was dull and he expects this week to be similar in terms of footfalls. Between Chhaava till now (March 14) there were no major movie releases. He also noted that currently, there are no good content movies in Hindi cinema.

“I don’t think The Diplomat is going to work as it has not been promoted nor is there any excitement around the film. It will be a dull opening,” he added corroborating Puri.

Amit Sharma, MD, Miraj Entertainment said that for almost a month, the multiplex chains have no major film apart from Chhaava. He expects the occupancy this weekend to be reasonable.

PVR INOX, MuktaA2 Cinemas and Miraj Cinemas said that they will wait-and-watch to see if re-releases will do better than new movie releases on the weekend.

Last year, Holi was on a Monday, March 25. While there were no releases on Holi, the comedy drama movies released on March 22, Madgaon Express and March 29, Crew had performed well at the Box Office. Compared to this, both Sharma and Puri agree that this year would not be as great.