The advance of Sooryavanshi and Eternals has not been able to open in full as the makers of Sooryavanshi have not settled terms with the national chains yet and talks are ongoing. It will settle at the last moment as it normally happens but it has affected the advance of both films. For Eternals it has nothing to do with them but their advance has been hit with limited shows at the national chains while its no shows for Sooryavanshi.

The advance at the end of business on Thursday stands neck to neck to neck at around 2 crore nett though Sooryavanshi has sold more tickets. The big chains have Imax shows as well as other shows available for Eternals and these are all at high ticket rates which has pushed the advance of Eternals. Overall there are limited shows so its a very good number for the advance.

The Sooryavanshi advance is coming from places where the ticket prices are low and most of these cinemas are seeing a response after 18 months. The movement really picked up on Wednesday in Gujarat and UP, Gujarat was expected to do well but now UP also looks like another market which will be back on Friday. 

The number looks low for Sooryavanshi but that is mainly as there is not much advance available and the national chains where practically most of the advance has been coming post the pandemic have not opened. Its unlikely advance will open at the national chains and it will be straight release and if so the film will have an advance of 4 crore nett by release which is a very good number considering the situation

The last day normally adds 80-100% and top end is pretty much assured here as non national chain multiplexes will get the benefit of no tickets available at the national chains. Eternals will find it hard to double as there is nowhere really to go now until the national chains open their plans.

This 4 crore nett number probably means 10-15 crore nett advance if it opened in full last weekend which is probably the best advance ever for an Akshay Kumar film outside Mission Mangal which was hugely driven by national chains.

The collecting single screens be it Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Bhopal, Ahmedabad or Surat are going get some shows to go housefull by the end of the day and in current the results will be get even better as the Diwali factor hits.

There was hope that it would be only Maharashtra that will be 50% occupancy but only Punjab has gone to 100% this week. Madhya Pradesh is expected to be 100% on the 5th Nov but it remains to be seen if the notice comes in time. This leaves other major contributing areas like Haryana at 50%, Bihar at 50% and West Bengal at 70%. These will go to 100% soon but not in time for the big day on Friday. Maharashtra is also expected to hit 100% and it could be as earliest as next week.

Despite the advance numbers not looking great its going to be a good Diwali for the film industry as the numbers do not tell the actual story of the advance. Now it will down to the current to make it a great Diwali.