Salman Khan's Sikandar, which released on Eid, had a promising start at the box office, with a solid ₹26 crore opening on Sunday, Day 1. The film witnessed a boost on Eid as some shows went housefull in select centres. However, while the demand for Sikandar surged in certain cinemas, it has been replaced in multiple theatres due to underperformance in others.
As per Times of India, while many shows of Sikandar have not been cancelled in Mumbai, some cinemas, including the G7 multiplex, which encompasses the renowned Gaeity-Galaxy, increased the number of screenings.
The film continued to run there without cancellations, despite reports of some screenings having a very low audience.
In contrast, theatres in cities like Surat, Indore, and Ahmedabad experienced a different fate, where Sikandar was replaced with other films due to limited audience turnout, especially in areas where the Eid effect was minimal.
A trade analyst shared their perspective with Bollywood Hungama, saying, "We didn’t find any instance of the show getting cancelled in Mumbai. There were shows where the number of viewers was in single digits but on the first two days, no show got cancelled due to no audience. However, the same happened in Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Indore etc., especially in areas where there was little or no Eid effect.”
The report also mentioned that two night shows in Surat were replaced with the Gujarati films All The Best Pandya and Umbarro, with Umbarro continuing to perform well despite being in its 9th week of release.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai’s single screens, Sikandar fared better. The two biggest single screens, the 991-seater Gaiety and the 818-seater Galaxy, saw packed shows on Eid, with additional shows added in the 105-seater Gossip.
Interestingly, L2: Empuraan’s Hindi version, which was previously playing in both Gossip and the 255-seater Gemini, has now been moved exclusively to Gemini.
In South Mumbai, however, the night shows of Sikandar at PVR Inox Nariman Point and Metro Inox were cancelled and replaced by the series The Diplomat.
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