Industry experts are increasingly reluctant to bring audiences to deeper structural issues, including boring pre-release buzz, weaker promotions, the rise of a growing streaming platform, as a more affordable alternative, as well as shifting in audience behavior, movie trailers often seal their touch on movie trailers.
The gentle opening has become the new routine, far from the past Day 1 series being seen as the benchmark for its star power and box office potential, they say. For example, Kesari Chapter 2 earned only €750 million on Friday’s opening day (half of the Rs 15 crore expected by trade analysts).
“A movie will have a pretty good opening day series, and then its collection will grow or fall depending on its connection status. But today, the opening day series for the movie starts at a lower number.”
Additionally, many movie lovers are waiting for peer reviews and word of mouth instead of watching the movies themselves on the first day, even if they are increasingly distrustful of the numbers on the open weekend.
“Audiences trust each other more than marketing activities,” Wadhwa explained. “Unless the movie resonates emotionally and feels real, the audience will not appear on Friday. Artificial collection of numbers changes things. We need to win the audience’s attention rather than buying. Open days should reflect trust rather than skill.” Lack of adequate promotion is another major obstacle. Gem producers are increasingly leaning towards social media to promote movies, mainly trailers posted on YouTube to drive their footprints. Although effective in urban centers, experts believe this approach may not be connected to audiences outside the city, which continues to rely more on traditional media for movie updates.
“People outside the metropolis are under-released in movies,” said Shaaminder Malik, a film publisher and trade analyst. “Producers have spent a lot of money on making movies. But in recent years, they have not invested adequately in the promotion of films in newspapers, electronic media, television and trade magazines.”
Some producers believe that the tradition of watching movies on Friday and making decisions based on weekend collections has gradually declined as viewers want to make sure the movie is worth investing.
“Friday numbers are purely promoting actors’ conceit. In the long run, it’s important to watch the collection of movies.” “Today, audiences are no longer interested in watching the first day of the movie. They want real deals. The real deals are ‘good scripts’.”
According to Nair, a movie made with a good script will play longer movies in the theater, and there is no marketing head and false data that can extend the existence of movies made with bad scripts in the theater.
He cites the role model of Chhaava, the only Bollywood hit rate so far in 2025 – the list continues in theaters even after nearly two months of release.
Experts say rich and compelling content on streaming platforms also lost the enthusiasm to watch movies on Fridays early on, too.
“Today, streaming is the cheapest form of entertainment if people consider the cost, time and hassle involved in touching and watching movies in theaters,” said a MD from a multinational media and entertainment company.
