Oscar forerunner ‘The Revenant’ shines on Pakistani box office

Film manages to earn Rs10m in first week despite being available on torrents

KARACHI: Much like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in the movie, The Revenant seems to have braved many storms and put forth an impressive run in cinemas across Pakistan. Most film fanatics would not have bet on it to draw audiences in such large numbers as, historically, Oscar-nominated films have rarely performed well in the country. The Revenant, however, has a box office tally of Rs 10 million, just over a week after its release.

Chairman of HKC Entertainment, the local distributors of the film, Hammad Chaudhry, says, “I think one of the biggest factors that contributed to the film’s box office success is that it released only six days after the announcement of its Oscar nomination. It had the right amount of buzz heading into its release.”

While distributors are fully aware that the movie was being heavily downloaded through torrents, Chaudhry counted on DiCaprio’s star power to safeguard against losses. “DiCaprio is one of the most renowned actors. He is like a brand in himself,” said Chaudhry. “So, we knew that people would most definitely come to watch his performance in The Revenant.”



Where a collection of Rs10 million may seem rather modest when compared to the business done by other local and Bollywood ventures, one must keep in mind that the film was allotted limited shows.

Like many other English language movies, The Revenant has done particularly well in Karachi and its figures have been boosted by a large turnout in Lahore as well, predominantly at the IMAX.



Nadeem Mandviwalla, managing director of Mandviwalla Entertainment, also weighed in on The Revenant’s earnings. He claimed that although a gross of $100,000 was not exceptional for a Hollywood film in Pakistan, it is still huge for a film like The Revenant.

“A successful Hollywood film usually earns around $400,000 in Pakistan, but for a movie like The Revenant, which has no commercial element in it, these are outstanding numbers,” he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd,  2016.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.