Nothing matches the hype of a Rajinikanth film down here in the south. That’s probably set to continue, but a curious trend has emerged on the same day of Kaalarelease. The sequel to the massively popular 2015 film Jurassic World is out in theatres today and a good portion of cinema lovers are grabbing tickets for the J.A. Bayona directed follow-up titled Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Most Hollywood blockbusters make a lot of noise in Indian theatres. On one hand, we’ve got the character and story driven franchises of Marvel and Star Wars. And on the other, visually driven films like Avatarand the upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdomoffer a different type of experience altogether. They live or die by how thrilling and visually pleasing the environment is. In fact, the environment is the set piece and characters take a backseat. The effects of the characters are felt afterwards, but crowds don’t return for that. They want to see more Dinos, and if an English film can provide that, theatres will get booked full for the opening weekend alongside Kaala.
Bipin Shah of Hansa Pictures, who are releasing the film here, said that “visually, this new installment of Jurassic World is just something else. When people see it, they’re going to love it.” Mr. Shah also implied that throngs of families and friends will turn up in the first weekend. “Kaalais a different beast altogether. But not everyone is a fan of Rajinikanth. Moviegoers often just seek spectacular visuals, and I’m confident this film [Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom] will provide that,” he quipped.
Given the insistence on the part of the distributors of Kaalademanding a higher price, some theatres including Kamala and Udhayam theatres have decided to not screen the film at all. A source representing Kamala theatres said that “We don’t want to increase the ticket price of Kaalaas we refuse to extract money from our loyal audience.” Instead, they can rely on the Tamil dubbing of JW:FKto fill in the seats. With tickets selling out rapidly, there’s apparently not much to worry about.
