Shah Rukh Khan (Source: Yash Raj Films poster for Pathaan)
Shah Rukh Khan will be back on the big screen on January 25 after four years with the release of Pathaan. The excitement is palpable with advance bookings surpassing Rs 50 crore.
“The much-awaited action-thriller has crossed one million tickets in advance sales on BookMyShow already. Advance sales for Pathaan have been opening up in phases with over 3,500 screens available on the platform so far,” Ashish Saksena, COO (Cinemas) at BookMyShow, said.
Analysts believe these positive developments are reflecting on INOX and PVR share prices. At 12:30pm, PVR was quoting at Rs 1,673 on the NSE, higher by over 3 percent amid high volumes, while Inox Leisure was trading at Rs 490, higher by 1.8 percent.
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"Seasonally weak Q4 for PVR is likely to see strong start from Pathaan, already in Top 3 advance booking for a Hindi film post pandemic," a report by Nuvama Institutional Equities said.
The firm expects about Rs 150-200 crore India collections in first week of release, given the three holidays, social media buzz, and "pent-up demand for SRK".
As per domestic research firm Prabhudas Lilladher, content slate for near term also looks healthy with movies like Shehzada, Bhola, Selfiee, Ant-Man and the WASP: Quantumania, Shazam, and John Wick in the pipeline.
For the October-December quarter, PVR posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 16.1 crore against a loss of Rs 10 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue from operations surged 53 percent on-year to Rs 941 crore from Rs 614 crore a year back.
"The third quarter saw Hollywood’s resurgence with the highest grossing movie of the quarter Avatar 2: The Way of Water and was supported by movies like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Black Adam," said the company in an exchange filing.
According to Nuvama, the PVR stock is in the oversold territory, down over 30 percent from its peak. It has the 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 2,110 per share.
Prabhudas Lilladher has a target price of Rs 1,983 on the stock. It believes that the proposed merger with Inox is expected to culminate in Q4 FY23 and can act as a key re-rating lever. It expects margins to improve, led by increased footfalls and recovery of ad revenues.
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