Ramayana advance booking hits Rs 8.16 crore for opening day

Ramayana: Rise of a Legend has opened its advance booking window with a number that signals a very strong Diwali start. The Nitesh Tiwari-directed epic, starring Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana, has recorded Rs 8.16 crore in opening-day advance sales for its November 5 release, according to trade figures collated by Sacnilk. With 13 days still to go, the film is already being spoken about as a double-digit opener.

The opening-day maths

The Rs 8.16 crore total has come from 3,944 shows scheduled on Day 1. The cleaner paid figure, excluding blocked seats, stands at Rs 6.15 crore. No shows have sold out yet, and roughly 95% of shows still have more than half their seats available — which means this early total is being driven by high-value formats and metro demand rather than full houses.

Hindi screenings dominate with Rs 7.39 crore, or about 91% of the opening-day gross, across 3,737 shows. Hindi 3D alone has contributed Rs 4.89 crore, approximately 60% of the total. Premium formats such as IMAX, 4DX, Dolby, ICE and EPIQ punch well above their weight: they account for 29% of the gross despite making up only 6% of the shows.

Where the money is coming from

Delhi NCR is the leading city market with Rs 2 crore, approximately 24% of the opening-day gross. Mumbai follows with Rs 1.48 crore, and Hyderabad has added Rs 46.68 lakh. The top 10 cities together account for 75% of the advance-booking gross, so the early surge is heavily urban.

• Delhi NCR: Rs 2 crore, the top city market
• Mumbai: Rs 1.48 crore, second biggest city
• Hyderabad: Rs 46.68 lakh, third in the city list
• Maharashtra: Rs 2.14 crore, the leading state
• Kannada screenings: Rs 55.96 lakh from 180 shows

The ticket price story

This is not a cheap ticket. Recliner seats for afternoon and evening shows in Mumbai on November 5, 6 and 7 are priced as high as Rs 3,170, Bollywood Hungama reports. INOX Insignia at Worli has late-afternoon and night screenings at Rs 2,370. Prices are more forgiving at the IMAX 3D shows in Churchgate and Ghatkopar, where evening and night tickets are under Rs 1,000.

Occupancy is still in its early phase: morning shows are leading at 18% across 1,250 shows, while afternoon shows are the slowest at 15% across 900 shows. With two weeks left, there is room for the curve to shift as Diwali plans firm up.

What viewers should know

The Hindi version reportedly runs three hours and 15 minutes, while the English version is expected to come in at roughly two hours and 45 minutes after song-and-dance sequences are trimmed for international audiences. For fans planning a festive watch, comparing format and showtime is the practical move — the same film can cost very different amounts depending on where and when you book.

Source: The Times of India