It is an open truth that our cinema industry is in need of immediate help. The new local releases that have come out these past few weeks have acted as drips instead of fresh oxygen. Captain Marvel & Shazam, however, have brought some respite to the cinemas but this week’s releases; Dumbo, Hellboy & Junoon-e-Ishq, it seems, will bring no effective joy to the box office. Captain Marvel, being the final follow up to the Avengers: Endgame, will bring in the most footfalls or so we predict. Let’s try and see how the three films releasing this Friday will fare:

Hellboy

Hellboy is a reboot of the 2004 Hellboy movies but this time around, it is pitching itself as more of a horror superhero movie with the R-rated rating being its trump card. This year has been good to horror flicks and superhero movies, with both doing well, so Hellboy will be an interesting case to see.

GL Says: Hellboy is more of a supporting film to bigger films, especially in our market. Our local audiences normally come out to watch popular titles only while smaller ones go unnoticed. Hellboy is a non-starter and, seems like, will not do much in terms of numbers at our local box office. Moreover, we predict that even if it has good content, it will have a very minor effect on its overall performance, as per our audiences’ track record.

Dumbo

Dumbo is a live-action adaption of the 1941 movie of the same name; a film we believe many of you have seen. The film is actually a delayed release, in Pakistan, and seems like the said delay will affect its numbers badly. As for its performance worldwide, the film fell short of expectations. It did not open to many good reviews which spoils its chances even more.

GL Says: Dumbo will not find much audience in the cinemas here as the title is very much familiar in the Asian markets. Secondly, the film has struggled wherever it has been released in the world. The film will need a solid and a long run to get good collections and this seems highly unlikely at this moment.

Junoon-e-Ishq

Junnon-e-Ishq, from its promos, seems like a film which will not only prove to be not just a drip for our cinemas but also a bacteria that drives people away. Movies in today’s world are being made at such a gigantic scale and with the utmost quality, while we are still stuck with old school Lollywood that no one probably doesn’t even want to see anymore.

GL Says: If the cinema going audience has to pay the same amount of money for Junoon-e-Ishq ticket as they have to for Avengers: Endgame releasing in 2 weeks, they would rather watch Avengers twice. Just saying!

For now, Caiptan Marvel seems to be the film for the weekend and hopefully, cinemas will witness some good footfalls in the weeks to come. Fingers crossed!