Cinema VS Cricket World Cup: Will Bollywood Movies Be Affected By India’s Cricket Matches?

Advika Hue |May 24, 2019

The heat of the Cricket World Cup matches will definitely have an impact on the revenue of several Bollywood movies at the box office.

Bollywood and cricket are always the two things that get the most attention from the public in India, so when the Cricket World Cup is about to take place, many viewers have changed their plans to watch movies.

If you are a fan of both cricket and movies, you’ll have to choose between the match of India vs South Africa which is held on June 5^th and the film Bharat of Salman Khan which is also released the same day. Also, on the first Sunday of Bharat since its release, June 9^th, the match between India and Australia will also take place.

cricket cinema — *Left to right: Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni; images from Bharat, Kabir Singh, Jabariya Jodi, Game Over (Source: dnaindia.com)*

Besides, the premiere date of several Hindi movies also coincides with many essential matches of the national team. Game Over of Taapsee Pannu is scheduled to hit the theaters on June 14^th, two days before India plays against Pakistan on June 16^th and Kabir Singh of Shahid Kapoor is also released only one day before the match of the Men In Blue with Afghanistan team.

The match against England of India is held on June 30^th, the first Sunday of Drive which featured Jacqueline Fernandez and Malaal of Meezaan Jaffrey and Sharmin Segal. Besides, the Cricket World Cup this year is held in the UK, and the matches are broadcast at 3 pm so the schedules of some movies’ evening shows will also be affected.

The massive premiere of Bharat

According to Taran Adarsh, a former trade analyst, the cricket match will affect the footfalls, pointing out that even the opening and the closing ceremonies of Indian Premier League can affect the revenue of a movie. Therefore, the World Cup matches where India will be playing will undoubtedly have a remarkable impact on the achievement of a film at the box office.

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Bharat Feature

On the other hand, INOX Cinemas' CEO, Alok Tandon says he doesn’t think that the matches will affect Brahat because the Indians love cinema and cricket equally and they will spend time for both. However, Taran Adarsh doesn’t feel the same way; he said that the matches that draw massive attention from the public such as India vs South Africa and Indo-Pak will definitely influence the collections of several movies.

825415 Films 052019 01 — *Left to right: Sushant Singh Rajput; Jacqueline Fernandez; Meezaan and Sharmin Segal in Malaal; image from 99 Songs (Source: dnaindia.com)*

Content is the key

Though the impact of the World Cup is huge, there are still many movies that have achieved great success despite being released in the World Cup season. Biwi No 1, Badlapur, Dum Laga Ke Haisha are a few typical examples of the movies that excellently survived the hype of the World Cup. Expressing his thought about the influence that the cricket matches of Indian team would have on the film, Taran Adarsh said,

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