With every Friday of no new release of films due to the shutting down of cinemas to fight the coronavirus, the film industry is heading for more and more trying times. It is well-known that the number of films being produced is far more than the number of Fridays in a year, and so the release situation is always difficult. That is why, there are weeks when two big films have to clash on a Friday, especially if it’s a festive week or a week/weekend with a national or public holiday. Like, Salman Khan’s Radhe and Akshay Kumar’s Laxmmi Bomb are scheduled to release in the Eid week (22nd May) this year.
The situation is going to worsen with every Friday that passes by without a single film hitting the screens because that would mean, pressure on the rest of the Fridays of 2020. With cinemas across most parts of the country ordered to remain closed till 31st March, the industry is already scheduled to lose two Fridays (March 20 and 27). That means almost 4% of the Fridays in a year lost out to the coronavirus. And if the situation does not improve, because of which the lockdown would have to continue, there would be a loss of more Fridays.
What would happen in such a scenario? Big films will have to clash on more weeks than usual if the situation does not get rectified. When two or more big films hit the screens on the same day, it is common knowledge that they eat into one another’s box-office collections. With the Fridays available for releasing films declining, the clash of big films will only worsen. The mayhem and chaos that would follow would be another catastrophe after the coronavirus. And one is not even talking about the smaller films here. One shudders to think what films without A-list actors would have to go through once the cinemas reopen… that is, when they do.