The opening of the Bollywood movie made on a budget of over ₹400 crores led to PVR and Inox Leisure losing a cumulative valuation of nearly ₹940 crores on Friday Listed multiplex majors like PVR and Inox Leisure took a beating in the stock markets on Friday even as the benchmark indices clocked marginal gains.
The losses of the multiplex majors were primarily on account of reports of a weak opening for Brahmastra, a multi-starer movie made at a cost of over ₹400 crores and one which was expected to break Bollywood’s run of flops. Shares of PVR lost 5.27 percent or ₹101.95 to end the day at ₹1,834.15. During intra-day trades, the shares hit a low of ₹1,825.90. Similarly, Inox Leisure saw its shares tumble nearly five percent or ₹25.70 to close at ₹494.40.
More importantly, the lackluster opening of Brahmastra which boasts of a star cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Nagarjuna, and a cameo by Shah Rukh Khan cost the investors of the two companies a combined loss of nearly ₹940 crore – the cumulative loss in market capitalization of the two listed multiplex companies.
Market experts believe the huge hit taken by the multiplex majors was also because there were high hopes riding on the big-budget movie and it was expected that it would have put an end to the series of flops of Bollywood movies after high-profile productions including Laal Singh Chaddha and Shamshera. Incidentally, PVR and Inox Leisure reported a combined record ₹883 crore quarterly net box office collections in April-June 2022. That’s a 19 percent jump from the ₹743 crores, the two multiplexes made through net box office collections in April-June 2019.
Brahmastra is known as a weapon of unstoppable destruction, which can only be stopped by its counterattack astra (weapon). Ironically, the movie could end up being a victim of the weapon it is named after.
Brahmastra opened to tepid reviews despite healthy advance bookings worth ₹23 crores. Movie reviewer and analyst Taran Adarsh gave the Ranbir-Alia starrer a two-star rating, saying that the movie is a king-sized disappointment.