Beyond the weekend: theatres rejoice as films crack the weekday test

Bucking the age-old trend of films, both big- and mid-budget, relying heavily on weekend collections, several recent titles with positive word-of-mouth have managed to draw significant audiences through the working week, according to theatre owners and trade experts.

While big films such as Dhurandhar: The Revenge and Border 2 have shown that large-scale cinema can continue to perform exceptionally well on weekdays, mid-budget Hindi films such as Welcome To The Jungle, Bhooth Bangla and Main Vaapas Aaunga have also seen steady weekday footfalls across multiplexes.

Theatre owners say audiences are becoming more selective about what brings them to cinemas. Films that earn their trust can sustain footfalls rather than rely solely on a strong opening. Cinemas, meanwhile, are increasingly treating weekdays as a distinct opportunity rather than simply an extension of the weekend. Weekday pricing, food and beverage (F&B) combos and loyalty offers are being designed to make a Tuesday or Wednesday outing more compelling. Showtimes and screen allocation are also becoming more dynamic, with cinemas responding to actual demand through the week rather than relying only on opening-day performance.

“We are seeing a very encouraging shift in the way audiences are coming to cinemas beyond the Friday-to-Sunday weekend. They are no longer deciding purely on opening-day hype. When a film connects, word-of-mouth takes over and gives it a much longer and healthier theatrical life,” said Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, executive director, PVR INOX Ltd.

“The biggest change is that audiences have become more deliberate about the films they choose. The opening weekend is often driven by star power, marketing and the initial excitement around a release. But the weekday audience is driven much more by whether people genuinely enjoyed the film and what they are hearing from others. That word-of-mouth brings in working professionals and families who may prefer a quieter weekday evening over the weekend rush,” Bijli added.

The company is closely tracking weekday demand and using it to fine-tune screen allocation and show timings, Bijli said. The weekday has become the real test of a film, he added, as it shows whether the initial buzz can translate into genuine audience connection.

Regional holds

The trend has played out across regional cinema as well, with Tamil films Gatta Kusthi: 2nd Round and Idhayam Murali, Punjabi film Carry On Jatta 4 and Malayalam film I, Nobody showing strong weekday holds.

Rohit Dalmia, chairman and managing director of entertainment financing platform CineNow, said Main Vaapas Aaunga actually grew through its first Wednesday and Thursday after a modest opening, while Telugu film Lenin also held strongly during the week. The trend remains title-specific, but good word-of-mouth is giving smaller and regional films longer theatrical runs, he added.

Sameer Munshi, chief operating officer, Miraj Entertainment Ltd, said theatre operators are moving away from a one-size-fits-all weekday strategy towards a more location- and city-specific approach to pricing, programming and showtimes.

“We use local audience behaviour, advance bookings and occupancy data to optimize shows and respond quickly to films showing stronger weekday legs,” Munshi added.

Agreeing that films which open small and then build through the weekdays are no longer the exception, Ashish Misra, head of commercialization, Cinépolis India, said the way films are marketed has also changed. The marketing push no longer stops on the day of release. Production houses now sustain their social media campaigns well beyond opening day, leaning into audience reactions as they come in and allowing that momentum to carry into the second and third week.

Pricing is another lever, according to Misra. The company's Blockbuster Tuesday ticket offering is designed to address this, taking the price question off the table on Tuesdays.

Price advantage

“Weekend ticket prices can be quite high, so many viewers, especially middle-class families and working professionals, prefer a Tuesday or Wednesday show when it is more affordable. People are also more careful about what they spend on now. They often wait for the first reviews and audience reactions before deciding if a film is worth watching in a theatre,” said film producer Anand Pandit.

At the same time, filmmakers are making more genre-specific films for particular audiences instead of trying to please everyone. Such films may start slowly but pick up as the right audience finds them, Pandit added.

“I do think we are seeing signs of greater staying power among certain films, although I wouldn’t call it a uniform trend just yet. What is particularly encouraging is that some of the strongest examples are coming from mid-sized, story-driven films, suggesting that sustained audience interest isn’t necessarily limited to big Hindi or pan-India tentpoles,” said Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer - cinemas, BookMyShow.

The platform is seeing audiences plan theatrical outings around their individual schedules, with working professionals, college students and families increasingly finding weekday slots that work for them, Saksena added. This creates an opportunity for films with strong audience appeal to build steadily across the week, even after the initial marketing-led hype has died down.

About the Author

Lata writes about the media and entertainment industry for Mint, focusing on everything from traditional film and TV to newer areas like video and audio streaming, including the business and regulatory aspects of both. A journalist for over a decade, she has extensively covered relatively underexplored aspects of what is seen as a glamorous business—from the death of single-screen cinemas in small towns to unreasonable star fees and demands eating into film production budgets and eventually inflating ticket rates. She was early to spot what are now established and ongoing trends such as the slowdown in the OTT business and the surge in the popularity of southern movies, which she continues to spotlight. A regular writer of in-depth, long-form features, her best-read work ranges from critical profiles of companies like Netflix, JioHotstar and Prime Video to takes on sexual harassment and mental health in the entertainment industry. She spends a lot of time watching content, particularly the old-school way in movie theatres, to make sure her writing is embedded in on-ground experience, since she believes the best stories often come from the travesties of directly engaging with and paying for the content that she writes on, and not from celebrity tweets, company releases or listings. A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, she has also authored a book on the business of entertainment.