Call it luck or mere good timing, but multi-starrer flick Race 2 has managed to generate Rs100 million in revenues in about six weeks of running — the highest for any film so far in Pakistan.
While critics despised the cheesy one-liners and the pointless plot of the film, the saucy combination of actors Deepika Padukone and Jacqueline Fernandez did wonders at the Pakistani box office. The Abbas-Mustan sequel to Race, which was released late February, has smashed all previous box office records of Indian films in Pakistan. Previously, Salman Khan starrer Dabangg had grossed Rs80 million, while Bodyguard and Don 2 earned (Rs60 million and Rs80 million), respectively.
Managing Director of Atrium Cinemas, Nadeem Mandviwalla, believes that the business of Race 2 at the box office is a breath of fresh air for the Pakistani cinema industry. “The cinema industry has achieved 50% of its ‘ultimate target’ in five years and the remaining 50% will be achieved sooner than that,” Mandviwalla told The Express Tribune.
While elaborating upon this statement, he said that the ultimate goal of Pakistani cinema is to make the market lucrative for foreign films. “This can only happen if blockbusters like Race 2, Dabangg, Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises gross Rs200 million in their entire running, while average films like Special 26 do a business of Rs100 million — something that has so far been achieved by blockbusters only. This is the reason why the cinema industry is halfway through in achieving its goal,” Mandviwalla continued.
Mandviwalla is hopeful about the revenue generated at local cinemas and thinks that the business Race 2 has done is a great achievement. “We should not forget that the bar is always set by the biggest product. Race 2 is just one milestone and I am optimistic that the next one will come sooner than anticipated,” he said.
“A film cannot gross more than Race 2 in the present setup of the Pakistani cinema industry, we have reached our market’s threshold with it,” the managing director explained. “More screens and multiplexes are needed to grow beyond this limit and the pace with which screens are being multiplied, I am sure we will be able to double our market potential in less than five years,” he claimed.
Based on Marvel comics, Avengers led the charts among Hollywood movies released last year and earned Rs70 million in its entire running, however, The Dark Knight Rises failed to meet its commercial expectations.
Mandviwalla indicates that there is a link between a film’s earnings and its time of release. “The Dark Night Rises was released all over the world during Ramazan and was officially released in Pakistan weeks after its world premiere, as a result of which it suffered a lot at the box office,” said Mandviwalla. “Race 2 was released at a time where there was hardly any significant Indian film playing at cinemas, hence it got such a healthy economic return,” he asserted.
The box office returns are equally shared between the distributor and the exhibitor, with each getting a 50% share, which leaves little room for profits. However, if the revenue is Rs200 million then film-making and distribution can become a profitable business in Pakistan.
The success of Race 2 tells our own film-makers that cinema culture is going strong and that audiences crave big screen entertainment. Now is the time that they need to up their quality and output!
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2013.
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