Exclusive/ Will Animal success be a roadblock for Salaar? Here's what trade experts have to say

The upcoming box office clash between Animal and Sam Bahadur on December 1, has generated a lot of curiosity. For the next 3 weeks, after these two big films release there is no major title lined up - which allows both Sam Bahadur and Animal an uninterrupted run at the box office. However, much against the popular perception, Animal’s genre might impact its business in more ways than one. And not just its own, of the coming big releases too.

'Audience will think twice before watching Salaar right after Animal'

Trade analyst Sumit Kadel feels that if a film like Animal, which is action and crime-driven and largely caters to the male audience, gets good word of mouth, it might make things difficult for the Prabhas-starrer Salaar, which releases on December 22.

“Salaar belongs to the same genre as Animal. So if Animal ends up garnering very good WOM, its target audience would think twice before watching a film like Salaar in the same month.” Kadel added that this might turn their attention towards the other big film release that week which is lighter in tone and is a family drama - Dunki.

At the same time, trade analyst Ramesh Bala believes that a big release like Salaar might eat into Animal’s business only in its 3rd week when audiences would be inclined to watch their favourite movies multiple times. “With Salaar releasing on December 22, some fans of action movies would rather wait and spend their money on watching Salaar for the first time instead of watching Animal again,” Ramesh Bala added.

'Audience will choose between Animal and Salaar'

Meanwhile, talking about Salaar box office potential, Sumit Kadel also noted that the Prabhas starrer might take a Rs 15-20 crore opening in Hindi alone, overall garnering Rs 60-70 crore nett in all languages.

However, he added, “Nowadays, if audience accepts a film, it runs for 5 weeks. So after a point, even after Salaar releases, people will choose a film between Animal and Salaar. So things will turn around only if Salaar gets really good word of mouth, or has a Yash cameo as the rumours have been going about Salaar being part of KGF universe.”