Animal: Ranbir Kapoor's crime drama sells 1 lac tickets ahead of release

Ranbir Kapoor in a still from Animal

Advance booking for the upcoming Ranbir Kapoor film, Animal, opened for the public over the weekend and within no time, it set a new benchmark. Despite expensive ticket prices, people are showing interest in watching the crime drama directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. There were reports that almost 10,000 tickets were being sold per hour when the advance booking window opened.

Now, according to renowned trade analyst Taran Adarsh's latest tweet, Animal has sold 1 lac tickets already. The data was for the first day of the film's release. His tweet read, "#Xclusiv… #Animal advance booking status at 'national chains'… Note: [Friday] Day 1 tickets sold…#PVRInox: 81,000 #Cinepolis: 19,000 Total: 1,00,000 tickets sold."

Considering the high demand for Animal, certain theatres will be having early morning shows. With a strong pre-release buzz, the price of tickets at premium and key theatres across the city has gone up to Rs. 2,100/-. Despite being expensive, people have shown interest in buying tickets. While tickets for morning shows cost between Rs. 150 to Rs. 350, the screenings in the evening are slightly on the higher side.

Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar's T-Series, Murad Khetani's Cine1 Studios and Pranay Reddy Vanga's Bhadrakali Pictures have backed Animal. It is releasing in theatres along with Vicky Kaushal, Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh's Sam Bahadur.

Sam Bahadur is the biopic of First Field Marshall and military might, Sam Manekshaw. Vicky plays the titular role whereas Sanya is his wife, Siloo. Fatima plays former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

While Animal and Sam Bahadur are enjoying a strong pre-release buzz, the latter is slightly behind the crime drama in terms of the advance booking figure. Reportedly, the biopic has sold 6,500 tickets till 11 am on Monday.

Animal is making headlines for its excessive violent content. The film has been granted an Adult certificate from the CBFC. The runtime of the crime drama is 3 hours and 21 minutes. At a press conference, Ranbir said, "We have seen a cut of this film which is 3 hrs 49 mins and that also held. Even that was entertaining. Sandeep has worked really hard to bring the length down because you cannot stretch that much. Hoping that the audience do not panic by the length and just come experience cinema at its best."

Animal also stars Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna and Tripti Dimri.