After a ₹65-crore opening, Ramayana has a ₹800-crore box office potential

Namit Malhotra’s Ramayana: Part 1 is emerging as a key box office driver for the Indian cinema exhibition industry, with its performance expected to have a significant bearing on PVR INOX’s revenue in the second half of FY27. The film, which opened in theatres on Thursday to an optimistic response, collected ₹64.85 crore on its opening day across 25,200 shows. Its India gross collection stood at ₹77.50 crore.

According to Sacnilk, the film added another ₹16.88 crore in India net collections on Day 2, taking its cumulative India net collection to ₹81.73 crore and gross collection to ₹97.42 crore. It was running across 12,754 shows on the second day, with Hindi contributing ₹12.53 crore from 10,898 shows, followed by Kannada at ₹1.70 crore, Telugu at ₹1.61 crore, Tamil at ₹61 lakh and Malayalam at ₹43 lakh. Final collections for the day are yet to be reported.

The film's box office performance assumes greater significance for multiplex operators as the December quarter shapes up to be a strong content period. In a report dated October 31, Karan Taurani, EVP at Elara Capital, said Ramayana could generate ₹800 crore in domestic net box office collections, with the potential to touch ₹1,000 crore in an optimistic scenario.

For PVR INOX , this could translate into approximately ₹300 crore in ticket revenue, based on its estimated 38% share of Hindi box office collections. Elara's estimates assume domestic net collections of ₹800 crore for Ramayana, making it one of the biggest contributors to the exhibition chain's anticipated Q3FY27 performance.

Ramayana and Avengers account for 62% of big-ticket releases

Elara's projections place Ramayana alongside Avengers: Doomsday as the two most consequential releases for PVR INOX in Q3FY27. The two films are expected to contribute 62% of the box office collections from five large releases during the quarter.

Taurani estimates that the five films, including Drishyam 3, Jailer 2, Ramayana, Avengers: Doomsday and King, could collectively generate ₹2,600 crore in domestic net box office collections. Of this, ₹980 crore could accrue to PVR INOX based on its estimated market share across Hindi, English and regional films.

Drishyam 3 and Jailer 2 have already generated ₹800 crore in combined India net collections, according to the report. Ramayana is estimated to contribute ₹800 crore, while Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for release on December 17, could bring in another ₹600 crore. King, arriving on December 24, is expected to contribute ₹250 crore during the quarter.

With another ₹150 crore expected from other films, Elara estimates PVR INOX's Q3FY27 ticket revenue at ₹1,130 crore, up 12% year-on-year from ₹1,010 crore in Q3FY26.

The projections come against a high comparative base created by Dhurandhar, which collected approximately ₹850 crore in India. Taurani believes a strong Ramayana performance could offset this base effect while supporting industry box office growth, occupancy and ancillary revenues from food and beverages and advertising.

Occupancy and the December quarter pipeline

The report also points to an improvement in PVR INOX's occupancy levels, which rose from 23% in FY25 to 26.2% in FY26 and reached 30.4% in Q2FY27. Elara expects occupancy to remain at 28-29% or higher in Q3FY27, supported by the upcoming releases.

For Q4FY27, the pipeline includes Golmaal 5, Love & War and Naagzilla, apart from the spillover collections of King and English releases. Elara estimates ticket revenue of ₹800 crore for the quarter.

Together, ticket revenue for the second half of FY27 is projected at ₹1,930 crore, a 6% increase over ₹1,820 crore in the corresponding period last year. However, this remains below the ₹2,080 crore second-half run rate required to meet Elara's full-year FY27 ticket revenue estimate of ₹4,080 crore.

Taurani said the estimates would depend on the film slate outperforming expectations. Sustained collections beyond the opening weekend, particularly for Ramayana and Avengers, will remain key to determining whether the anticipated recovery in cinema footfalls translates into higher revenues for exhibitors.