Kollywood audience are finally ready for a big treat after a gap of 10 months with Thalapathy Vijay's Master hitting the screens worldwide on Wednesday, Jan. 13. The film is credited as the first film by a South Indian A-listed star to release since the country went for the lockdown in March 2020.
Screen Count
Lokesh Kanagaraj's crime thriller is releasing in over 550 screens (final count may vary) in its home territory of Tamil Nadu. The movie is seeing the light of the day in over 800 screens in other parts of South India. Notably, for the first time, the Vijay-starrer has been dubbed into Kannada and releasing simultaneously along with Tamil and Telugu versions in Karnataka.
Advance Booking and Opening
The fans of Vijay have given a good response to the advance booking. Not just in Tamil Nadu, people have responded positively in Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka as well.
Vijay has been setting new benchmark at the box office in the last few years. However, can he repeat it this time around? The answer is 'no'. There are three factors that will determine the opening of Master.
1) Covid-19
Covid-19 is still around and there is fear among the people over the pandemic. The fans may be ready, but coronavirus fear is still lingering in the minds of general audience. So, it is still not clear how people will respond.
2) Occupancy
As per the government's order, the audience in all cinema theatres is capped at 50 percent. It means for any given show, the audience cannot exceed 50 percent. This will directly impact the collection.
3) Money Factor
The jobless situation and poor financial condition of people too play a major role as the audience might hesitate to watch the film in theatres.
At the same time people, whether they are fans of Ajith or Rajini, badly need entertainment. Audience have not got the right opportunity to enjoy a big film in theatres for long. As a result, Master is set to get a good opening, but not a great opening for the above-mentioned reasons.
It means it will have a longer run in theatres than usual.
Vijay's Sarkar (Rs 31+ crore), Bigil (Rs 25+ crore) and Mersal (Rs 24+ crore) got earth-shattering opening. However, Master is predicted to earn around Rs 12 to 15 crore on the first day considering the above-mentioned reasons.
From 2021 onwards, all the box office comparisons should be made whether a film released before or after Covid-19.
