Box Office
Patriot Final Advance Booking: Rs. 21+ Crore Worldwide Pre-Sales Secures Second-Biggest Malayalam Opening and Positions Film for a 100 Crore Weekend
BY SACNILK
The much-awaited Malayalam actioner Patriot is off to a scorching start at the box office. Featuring the powerhouse trio of Mammootty, Mohanlal, and Fahadh Faasil, the film is officially the most expensive Malayalam production ever, with a massive budget estimated between 125 and 140 crores. This scale is evident on screen, with the story of a retired JAG officer and a colonel fighting a national security conspiracy shot across global locations like London, Azerbaijan, and Thailand. Even before the first show began, the pre-sales figures made it clear that we are looking at a historic opener. Starting with its home turf, Kerala, the film has managed a final pre-sale figure of around 5.45 crores. This is a huge achievement as it becomes only the tenth film in history to cross the 4 crore mark in Kerala advance bookings, joining big names like Odiyan and Leo. The ticket velocity was particularly wild during the initial hours; over 32,000 tickets were sold in the very first hour, which jumped to 85,000 by 1 PM on the first day. This record-breaking pace has pushed it to become the second-best advance for a Malayalam film in the state. To give you some perspective, here is how the top leaderboard for Kerala pre-sales looks now: Empuraan: 11.75 Crores Coolie: 8.05 Crores Leo: 7.60 Crores Patriot: 5.45 Crores Coming to the performance in national multiplex chains, the trend has been quite interesting. While the activity was almost non-existent on April 30 with less than a hundred tickets sold, it saw a massive spike as May 1 approached. On the opening day, the film sold over 54,000 tickets across major chains, bringing in a gross of nearly 1.75 crores. The momentum is staying strong for the rest of the weekend too, with bookings for May 2 already crossing the 20,000 mark. Occupancy levels are also looking healthy, with chains like PVR and Cinepolis showing nearly 50 percent occupancy for day one shows. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) Moving to the digital side of things, the response on BookMyShow has been equally dominant. Patriot wrapped up its pre-sales on the platform with 333,000 tickets. The final 24 hours before release saw a huge surge, with 145,000 tickets booked in that window alone. In the context of Malayalam films released since 2024, this puts it at the number two spot, ahead of major hits like The GOAT Life at 309,000 and Aadu 3 at 235,000. While the 1.3 million record set by Empuraan is still far off, Patriot has created a significant gap between itself and other recent releases. The international market has provided another massive boost to these numbers. Overseas pre-sales have touched the 14 crore mark, with the GCC region alone contributing a solid 7.11 crores. When you add the 1.70 crores from the rest of India and the strong Kerala numbers, the total worldwide pre-sales stand at a staggering 21.15 crores. This makes it the second-biggest global advance in the history of Malayalam cinema, trailing only behind the record-breaking figures of Empuraan. Overall, with a combined three-day weekend advance of roughly 28 crores, the film is perfectly positioned for a historic run. Since today is a May 1st holiday, the movie is expected to gain huge traction from walk-in audiences, putting it on a clear path to potentially breach the 100 crore gross mark globally over the long weekend. Given the massive 130 crore plus investment, the trade will be watching the weekday holds closely, but if the initial word of mouth stays positive, Patriot is set to completely redefine the commercial potential of the industry.
