IPL affecting box office collections may be something never heard of by most people. But, it’s a reality. Films are sensitive to everything that may affect their potential. The box office is affected by everything that happens outside the theatres. Say a strike, unrest, inflation, IPL, and festivals among a plethora of other things.
The first season of IPL in 2008 started with a bang, the vent cut across all age groups and kept entire families hooked to screens. Sweets were distributed among the people when their favourite team won a match or reached the finals. While the IPL fever engulfed the whole nation, filmmakers across India felt a pinch. Witnessing the popularity of IPL, the makers started to postpone their April-May releases to avoid any box office impact on their movies due to IPL.
However, in today’s fast-paced world ‘nothing is permanent. Over the last five years, people have lost interest in the tournament since it started getting embroiled in controversies. Right from Harbhajan Singh- S Sreesanth slap gate and betting, spot-fixing case to Shah Rukh Khan’s big fight at the Wankhede stadium, many unpleasant things disappointed and shocked cricket lovers during the course of IPL seasons.
This loss in interest was duly noted by filmmakers and they started releasing their films around the same period. The fear of filmmakers about whether IPL will affect their revenues seems to have been allayed as people held in covid restrictions for nearly two years rush to theatres.
Despite soaring inflation gripping the whole nation, people do not mind spending on films to relieve some stress in their heads. In recent years Indian cinema has delivered some of its biggest blockbusters during IPL months (April-May). Prabhas and Anushka Shetty starrer Baahubali 2, which is the highest-grossing Indian film in the domestic market, was released on April 28 in 2017. On the other hand, two pan-India blockbusters, KGF 2 and RRR shattered records during the IPL phase this year. While the SS Rajamouli magnum opus featuring Jr NTR and Ram Charan has crossed the 1100 crore mark at the global box office, the Yash starrer has entered the Rs 600 crore club in just 5 days at the worldwide market.
