As expected, Jatt & Juliet 3 has set the record for the highest advance sales ever for a Punjabi film. At the time of writing, the Diljit Dosanjh starrer has earned around Rs 1.40 crore in its first day pre-sales. The advance is still some time away and it will likely end up with a final number of over Rs 1.50 crore. The previous advance record was held by last year’s release Carry On Jatta 3, which grossed Rs 1.10 crore on its first day.
What makes it even more impressive is that these gains came on a non-holiday Thursday and a low performance due to the clash with Kalki 2898 AD. A solo release on Friday would have pushed the record numbers even higher as most major theatres are close to capacity for primetime shows.
In national chains (PVRINOX and Cinepolis), Jatt & Juliet has sold 31,000 tickets till 10:30 pm, which is also a record for Punjabi films. The final numbers will likely be closer to 33-34 thousand. Around ten locations, most of which are from national chains, have sold more than 1000 tickets on the first day, with Cinepolis MBD in Ludhiana hitting the 2000 mark. In Punjab in particular, the uptake in national chains in recent times is second only to KGF 2, preceded by Animal, Gadar 2 and Jawaan.
If one goes by the advances, Jatt & Juliet 3 could set a new opening record for Punjabi films but the caveat here is the low capacity due to the clash with Kalki 2898. The performance in key centres is around 85 per cent of Carry On Jatta 3 and 70 per cent of KGF 2, the two biggest openers in the region in recent times. This makes it really tough to set a new record as both the aforementioned films themselves were running close to capacity in most places. It will be known tomorrow if the film will be able to cross the performance limits or not.
The film’s earnings are at record levels internationally as well. In Canada, the film has sold 22 thousand tickets worth 275 thousand Canadian dollars by the end of the weekend on Tuesday. Similarly, more than 12 thousand tickets have been sold in Australia for the weekend. Jatt & Juliet 3 is set to make some big earnings worldwide, which the Punjabi film industry desperately needs at the moment.