After a smashing start, the advance bookings for Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana Part One had plateaued. But over the last few days, buoyed by the buzz from the film’s Los Angeles premiere, the pre-sales have gained momentum once again, at least in the US. Back home, too, the advance bookings are starting to gain pace, with the film still awaiting all language versions to open ticket bookings on a full scale.
How Ramayana pre-sales are faring
Advance bookings for Ramayana opened on Dussehra, 15 full days before its global release. By November 29, a week ahead of its scheduled release, the film had grossed ₹15 crore in advance bookings in India, selling 2.75 lakh tickets. Initially, the Hindi version was accounting for almost all of the pre-sales collections, but over the last week, more Kannada and Telugu shows have begun to open. The Hindi version still accounts for 83% of the film’s advance bookings in India, but the Kannada and Telugu versions are making strides too. The Hindi version has now opened in over 1,600 screens. The Kannada version, which is now open in just over 100 screens, has crossed the ₹2 crore mark, with some centres already reporting up to 80% occupancy for the morning shows. The Telugu shows have opened in only around 20 screens, but are still hurtling towards the ₹50 lakh mark. Tamil shows have opened in about a dozen screens over the last 48 hours, but have barely crossed the ₹4 lakh mark, selling fewer than 2K tickets.
Ramayana sees a boost overseas
What has helped Ramayana’s case is the pre-sales buzz overseas. In North America, the film will have paid previews on November 4, the eve of its release. According to Sacnilk, the film went from $631K to $800K in tickets for those paid previews in just 24 hours after the Los Angeles premiere. This is a 27% jump in collections. In addition, Ramayana has grossed $500K for the release day from overseas territories. This brings the film’s worldwide advance-booking gross to ₹25 crore by the end of October 29, a week before its release.
All about Ramayana
Produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios in collaboration with DNEG and Yash’s Monster Mind Creations, Ramayana is planned as a two-part film. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, and Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman. The first part is scheduled for worldwide release on November 5, 2026, while the second part is set for Diwali 2027. The films will release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam across India.
Sony Pictures will handle global distribution, excluding India, while Dharma Productions will distribute the film in the Hindi-speaking market. The film is also planned for a worldwide IMAX release.
