Sunday evening dashed the hopes of fans of the ‘KGF’ franchise when it was revealed that ‘KGF Chapter 2‘, the sequel of the blockbuster first movie, would not release in theatres this year. Hombale Films, the producers of KGF and KGF Chapter 2, announced on social media that KGF2 would only release in theatres on April 14th, 2022.
Akshay Kumar‘s ‘Bell Bottom‘ was a very crucial film release for a very significant reason. The star, and the film’s producers, Emmay Entertainment and Pooja Films, bravely released the film in theatres despite getting insane offers to release the film directly on OTT platforms. They need to be commended for that. Meanwhile, filmmakers and theatre-owners everywhere hoped that Bell Bottom would revive the theatre business and usher audiences back into enjoying a film on the big screen.
But even more importantly, Bell Bottom was a film that would be the litmus test for the current film scenario. Big movies such as ’83, Sooryavanshi, and yes, KGF Chapter 2, all of which had still not announced their release dates, kept an eagle eye on Bell Bottom and its performance at the box office. Its success—or failure—at the box office would help them decide if it would be sensible to release their big budget extravaganzas in theatres in the current scenario.
And then Bell Bottom released last week…..and the litmus test failed! The film collected a meagre ₹12.65 crore in its opening weekend. It was just the straw needed to break the resolve of KGF Chapter 2. The makers of the big-budget Yash starrer realised that it is simply not the right time to release a film of their scale and size in the current scenario. Audiences are still not ready to step into cinema theatres to watch a film, even an Akshay Kumar starrer.
KGF Chapter 2 has been envisioned as a pan-India film, and needs to do well across the country to give credence to its pan-India label. Its pan-India film status means it must do good business across India, not just South states. Also, its humongous budget means that it must fire at all cylinders in theatres to make a decent ROI.
KGF Chapter 2 has been ready for release for quite some time now. The Covid-19 second wave forced it to postpone release from its July date. Bell Bottom’s poor showing at the box office has had a negative rub-off effect on the business outlook for KGF Chapter 2. It is no surprise that KGF Chapter 2 has been pushed so far ahead to the summer of 2022.
It also means that Hombale Films’ other big ticket film, Prabhas starrer ‘Salaar’, earlier announced to release on 14th April 2022, will be pushed back to some other important date – Eid, Independence Day or Dussehra 2022 maybe.
Now that the new KGF Chapter 2 release date has been announced, fans must wait until 14th April, 2022 to watch their favourite action hero Yash on screen – hopefully, the big screen!
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