Baahubali 2 all booked for weekend as ticket prices surge, film breaks advance sale ticket records

Baahubali: The Conclusion stars Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah and Ramya Krishnan.

The biggest film fiesta is just round the corner, and fans are calling it Baahubali: The Conclusion. Touted as the biggest Indian film ever made, the kind of buzz around the movie only establishes the fact as to why the filmmakers have been doing everything under the sky to promote their film. Its prequel, Baahubali: The Beginning ended with several unanswered questions. And among the many cliffhangers, the biggest one remains ‘Why Kattappa killed Baahubali?’ While the big question is ensuring fans are making a beeline for first day, first show of Baahubali 2 that releases this Friday, it is not the only reason why Baahubali 2 has become the release of the year. However, for those who are yet to book their tickets, this weekend is not when they will get their answers.

The ticket windows for Baahubali 2 opened across the nation on Tuesday. It wasn’t surprising at all to see theaters and multiplexes showing “fast filling” for all the shows within minutes. Hours later, the entire weekend, beginning Friday, and even early days of next week went houseful. It is even being reported that all tickets are sold out till May 2.

Highest ever advance sales revenues for a movie

Ashish Saksena, COO-Cinemas, BookMyShow told indianexpress.com, “BookMyShow is experiencing an unprecedented advance booking for Baahubali 2. We have already sold over 1 million tickets across languages, even when the bookings have been live for just over a day. Though Baahubali 2 is largely perceived to be loved by south Indian audience, the response from Hindi speaking markets has been highly encouraging as well. Once all the cinemas in south come out with their schedules for the film, we expect the online ticket sales for Baahubali 2 to surge at an increasingly fast pace.” BookMyShow has also already clocked its highest ever advance sales revenues for a movie, while the film’s release is still two days away.

Baahubali 2 is all geared up to hit the screens on April 28.

Tickets prices surge to as high as Rs 2400

While the fans are rushing to the ticket counters, the prices at some places are leaving them shocked too. According to some reports, theaters in south India, where an average show costs Rs 150, cinema halls are charging as high as Rs 400 per person. In terms of online bookings, customers find it compulsory to buy a combo of Rs 250 along with the Rs 150 ticket.

#Karnataka state Govt issues an emergency GO capping tkt prices at Rs.200 effective tomorrow.. In accordance with High court directive..

— Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) April 26, 2017

Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce (KFCC) President Sa Ra Govindu told PTI, that the Prabhas-starrer which was anywhere priced between Rs 120 and Rs 600, is expected to reach close to Rs 900. However, the chamber has been in talks with the government officials to push for refunding the excess amount charged for Baahubali 2 and other films. Following the emergency order issued by the government, Govindu has been successful in capping the ticket prices at Rs 200 effective tomorrow. In accordance with the High Court directive, the theatres have to refund the excess amount to the audience. Urvashi theatre in Bengaluru for example, will see a massive loss as it was one of the theatres which collected Rs 600 for the 4 am show is said to have collected about Rs 30 lakhs for the opening weekend ticket sales.

Also read | Baahubali 2: Clips of SS Rajamouli film’s Telugu version leaked as film’s opening breaks Furious 8 record

In tech hubs like Hyderabad and Bengaluru, the multiplexes are going full throttle by charging each corporate ticket with a forced combo deal, which includes a popcorn and a cola drink.

The film will also release in IMAX format, and considering the country only has a handful of theaters with IMAX, it was the first one to get completely booked. The luxury screens like PVR Director’s Cut are charging as high as Rs 2400 per ticket. The platinum tickets, even in regular halls, are touching as high as Rs 1200.

Baahubali: The Conclusion is being touted as the biggest film ever made in India.

Insane, crazy bookings!

Check out some tweets from people who are sharing their ticket booking experience on social media. Some videos even show how fans are queuing up outside the cinema halls to buy tickets.

What the hack! Insane craze here! Didn’t know there was this much craze here in for baahubali in my state!! #baahubali2
Maan gaye🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/3FXrFswLon

— Kingsman🎩😎 (@AmlanTweeting) April 26, 2017

Queue for #Baahubali2 tickets @prasadz, Hyderabad at 9 am on 26th April #wkkb @BaahubaliMovie @ssrajamouli . I couldn’t grab one 😑 pic.twitter.com/PBwaBvcyCn

— Santhosh Kancharla (@santhu1134) April 26, 2017

Baahubali tickets : 24 Franc ! Normally Hindi films are up to 15 Franc! Might go just to know Why Kattappa killed Baahubali on 28th

— DêmотlоnålluSнlᵏᵏʳ (@InSRKsHEART) April 21, 2017

@BaahubaliMovie why are Baahubali tickets in the US priced at $20-30 ? That’s more than the biggest budget Hollywood movie

— Bony (@BonySen) April 20, 2017

#Baahubali2 USA #Tamil version tickets priced at $25 (premier) & $20. V l b interesting to see how it works. #Baahubali 1 had $15 tix

— Giantsfan (@GiantsfanA1) April 19, 2017

Around 15K+ tickets booked for #Baahubali2 [Fri – Sun] at Trivandrum Ariesplex 🙏 (includes all versions) #RecordKaBaap pic.twitter.com/k1WOAEj8Dx

— Rockstar (@Rockztar_1) April 25, 2017

Baahubali 2 will have its worldwide release on a never-seen-before scale. The film will hit as many as 9,000 screens worldwide, and will open in India on a record-breaking 6,500 screens. The film will also get the biggest launch for an Indian film in the US. According to reports, the film’s Telugu, Tamil and Hindi versions will release on 1,100 screens in the US. Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions of Baahubali 2 will release in Canada on over 150 screens in about 80-plus locations. It will also be the first film to release in the original IMAX format in these markets.

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