Akshay Kumar’s much-anticipated action drama Sky Force, releasing on January 24, is closing into its opening day facing low advance booking numbers. Directed by Sandeep Kewlani and Abhishek Anil Kapur, the film is set against the backdrop of India’s retaliatory airstrike on Pakistan’s Sargodha airbases during the prolonged Indo-Pakistani air war of 1965. Being a patriotically inclined narrative featuring Akshay squarely at the center, the initial buzz saw the mighty expectations carry forth for the film, but beginning numbers depict a long sad journey straight ahead.
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As of 10:00 am IST, individually booked tickets for Sky Force totaled gross sales of ₹17.35 lakh for the opening day (before blocked seat sales). This number is completely unimaginative for a film at this scale. Comparatively, all of Akshay’s earlier films managed to amuse in advance sales, with even lesser hits like Sarafira mopping up ₹75 lakh in advance sales. So far, by now, Sky Force has managed just 23.13% of Sarafira’s advance sales that says it’s a tough opener.
Delhi with ₹8.57 lakh gross leads ticket sales, while Maharashtra follows with ₹5.17 lakh gross.
National theatre chains (PVR INOX and Cinepolis) have sold over 4,100 tickets, while the total ticket count for the country is at about 9,400 for day one.
1. Akshay Kumar’s Last Few Films: Akshay is fighting years of a string of flops, which did instill a negativity that appeared to impact Sky Force.
2. Low Buzz: Although a patriotic backdrop exists with Akshay being successful in this genre in the past, the marketing and promotion efforts haven’t drummed up any hype for fans preceding the release.
3. Shows Not Quite Enough: As of now, a total of approximately 2,400 shows have been allotted across the country. Although these numbers are expected to rise.
