India’s Multivision Multimedia will release The Expendables 2 on 800 screens this weekend (Aug 24), a move that highlights the trend towards wider releases and almost day-and-date releases for US films in India.
The film will be released in its original English along with Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions. The pan-India release takes in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune.
The Expendables 2 opened in the US last week (August 17) and grossed $28.8m on its opening weekend.
Both US studio and non-studio films are performing well in India this year. The non-studio films have the added advantage of being screened on India’s rapidly-expanding e-cinema circuits – the country currently has around 5,800 e-cinema (ie non DCI-compliant) screens, compared to around 400 DCI-compliant 2K screens.
In comparison, the first film in the franchise, The Expendables, was released in India by Multivision Multimedia on only around 400 screens.
“The Expendables 2 comes at a time when the year so far has been fantastic for the Hollywood releases in India,” said Multivision Multimedia director Amit Jethani. “Some of the movies have grossed more than the Bollywood movies released in the same week.”
Multivision has released three other movies so far this year in India – Indonesian action movie The Raid: Redemption, Korean action movie Quick and Piranha 3D. Upcoming releases include Looper, starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
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