Superstar Rajinikanth’s latest offering, 2.0, seems poised to keep its momentum at the box office through the weekend, according to theatres in the city and the state. The Shankar-directorial is the sequel to 2010’s Enthiran and is India’s first film to be fully shot in 3D. The film has Rajinikanth reprising his role as Vaseegaran, the scientist as well as Chitti, the robot, with Akshay Kumar playing the main antagonist.
Mr Mariyappan, manager of Albert theatres, says all shows for the weekend are sold out. “The reception was very good. People have taken to the special effects and action sequences in a big way. The BO pull of the Superstar is intact. With positive reviews being shared, we are looking at an occupancy of over 95% next week too.”
Reuben, owner of GK cinemas says, “Our decision to install a 4D sound system for this film seems to have paid off. Based on what I saw, Rajini fans are going for repeat bookings, and even the family audience seems impressed. We are booked out till Sunday night. Good word of mouth appears to have helped, as shows for Monday and Tuesday too are filling fast.”
A spokesperson from SPI Cinemas concurs. “2.0 shows are completely sold out across all our properties in Chennai and Coimbatore for the weekend.”Distributor Tirupur Subramaniam says the reception in the south has been well on track. “3D shows are sold out on Sunday. The only reason why Saturday is not sold out yet is because of schools and exam season. But if things stay the course, we can expect that to fill up by tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, veteran Bollywood trade analyst Taran Adarsh says the response to the Hindi version has been exemplary. “On a weekday, an 8 am show was 90% sold out for the Hindi version in Mumbai. This, when advance booking opened only on Wednesday. ”2.0 was released on Thursday in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
(With inputs from Mani Prabhu)