Advance bookings the new marketing tool for movie makers

If you’re the die-hard, first-day-first-show cinegoer at all tentpole movies from big banners featuring superstars, you need not wait for the bookings to open less than a week before a movie’s theatrical release, to secure your ticket. You can now buy it a month in advance, sometimes even six weeks.

- Latajha

Even though India remains a market driven by walk-ins or impulsive ticket buying, advance bookings, as a marketing tool, help movie makers raise the decibels of their other marketing efforts (reality show appearances, print and digital advertising) to build anticipation and buzz, both in India and overseas. This isn’t a gimmick. It actually helps bring in nearly 30-40% of total box office collections.

However, if word-of-mouth around a film turns out to be completely negative, as in the case of mythological epic Adipurush recently, the fall post release, is equally dramatic, trade experts point out.