11 Good Bollywood Movies That Shot Into Empty Theaters

Although rare for good films, it is possible that the rooms are empty. Bad marketing, content sensitivity, low budgets and, more recently, boycotts are some of the reasons.

Here are some movies that saw empty theaters despite having good content.

1. Fire

Deepa Mehta is known for her trilogy of elements and the controversy they spark. Fire attracted hostility from right-wing conservative organizations, which opposed the depiction of homosexuality.

Protesters staged protests and attacks on cinemas that screened this film, resulting in low audience occupancy and an ultimate ban.

2. Water

After Fireshe continued with Water. The film faced widespread violent protests even before filming began.

The film explored widows, child marriage and Varanasi. As a result, widespread protests lead to empty theaters and low audience occupancy.

3. Jagga Jasoos

The ambitious film that snatched at the box office was Ranbir Kapoor’s star Jagga Jasoos. The film garnered good reviews from critics on its music and overall story.

However, the film’s length and acting performances bored the audience. Producers lost over 40 crores and the movie saw empty theaters

4. Beast

After the long-awaited Vijay-star The beast was released to disappointing reviews and critical disappointment. At the Amirtharaj Theater in Virudhunagar for the 7am show, the film saw empty seats and a handful of viewers.

A video of the screening has gone viral on Twitter. The video has nearly 70,000 views on Twitter with over a thousand retweets.

5. Phoonk

The Ram Gopal Verma movie received rave reviews from critics for being a true horror that left many people sleepless. However, it didn’t sit well with the audience who were too scared to watch it.

In true RGV fashion, he issued a lucrative challenge to horror movie fans: a $10,000 reward for anyone who can watch the supernatural thriller, alone, in a theater until the closing credits. Varma said the moviegoer who takes the challenge will be hooked up to a heart monitoring machine and a camera to make sure they keep their eyes peeled throughout.

6. Sonchiriya

Sushant Singh’s star Rajput was released on just 775 screens across India. It also did not receive a sufficient marketing budget.

Until the star’s untimely demise, the film failed to earn its credit with audiences. A number of theaters pulled the film early due to low audience occupancy.

7. Mad Max: Fury Road

Reddit users shared their experience with the film Mad Max: Fury Road.

Although the film was critically acclaimed, it did not do well at the box office.

8. Laal Singh Chaddha

Aamir Khan‘s latest film Laal Singh Chaddha saw low attendance and canceled shows on the first day. The operators decided to reduce 1300 screenings of the film a few days after the weekend.

It would be the lowest opening an Aamir Khan film has seen in the past 13 years. Film is good independently but falls short Forest Gump.

9. Laal Kaptaan

Laal Kaptaan, starring Saif Ali Khan as a Naga sadhu, failed to attract audiences. The revenge thriller failed to draw crowds.

After the first day, the film saw empty theaters and low audience occupancy.

10. Tumbbad

Another stellar film which got zero marketing and only 500 screens across India is Tumbbad.

The film received critical and audience acclaim after its release on OTT. Now it’s a cult horror movie that has seen empty halls.

11. Dobara

The latest victim of the boycott culture is Anurag Kashyap’s Dobaara. Although the film received rave reviews from critics, audience reviews left little to be expected. The film failed to arouse curiosity, had terrible marketing, and divided the masses due to the opinions of the lead actor and the director.

A number of morning shows were reportedly canceled on the first day. The occupancy rate of the public varied from 2 to 3%.

The box office is an unpredictable business!