Will Bell Bottom Revive Theatrical Business?(Pic Credit: IMDb)
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Akshay Kumar is ready to lead from the front with Bell Bottom arriving this month. As of now, it’s pretty sure that the film is releasing on the new date of 27th July. The film is expected to bring back the crowd in theatres and provide a ray of hope to the exhibitors in the coming days. But will it really happen? Will the box office be revamped? Let’s discuss possibilities.
It’s not for the first time that the box office has suffered. Back in 2008, Bollywood workers went on a strike due to which several shoots came to a halt. As no films were made during that particular period, the box office had witnessed a huge blow. A similar thing happened when demonetization was announced in late 2016. Thankfully, Aamir Khan’s Dangal did the magic and revived the business.
But now, the situation is much tough and nasty. It’s the new scare of COVID’s Delta plus variant. Back in 2016, the situation wasn’t about life and death, so the theatre business bounced back pretty quickly. Akshay Kumar and his Bell Bottom will need to carry out the important task of bringing out people to theatres.
If we take a look at the business of Godzilla vs Kong, Master and Crack, it’s evident that people will watch films but the content needs to be very appealing. The way Bell Bottom makers have shown the confidence in keeping the film on hold, suggests the content will be good to watch in theatres. Another thing is the promotional strategy. From hereon, the film has less than a month in hand. The major task will be to promote the film in every corner of the country. Considering Akshay’s presence and the look of the film, the content seems targeted at the lovers of masala entertainers. In order to reap full benefits, the team will need to tap the regions with more single screens. The fact is- multiplex audience depends on social media publicity and the single-screen audience depends on physical promotions. We hope the marketing team will consider such factors.
Another important factor is that the film is said to arrive on OTT within 3 weeks of its release. The step will surely affect the footfalls, but it will be interesting to see how the makers promote it. In the case of Master, it was always said to be a mass entertainer and a theatrical film, which helped it to enjoy a stupendous run in theatres despite premature OTT release.
What do you think, will Bell Bottom help in box office revival?
