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Box Office: Powerstar Puneeth Rajkumar's James set for Historic opening for Sandalwood
The late Sandalwood power star Puneeth Rajkumar’s final movie arrives in theatres tomorrow. James will be releasing in virtually every cinema in Karnataka, making it the widest release ever in the state. Initially, there were reports of no movie other than James to be screened for a week in the state but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Even though limited, holdovers are holding screens and there are some new releases including Akshay Kumar starrer Bachchan Pandey.
At the time of writing, the film is scheduled to release on over 450 screens at 380 locations, playing over 2100 shows. The final number can go to over 400-425 locations and 500 screens. There are around 200 early morning shows scheduled across the state, with some places starting them at 01:00 in the morning. Most big Kannada movies release on around 300-320 locations in the states, James can go 100 more than that. There will be around 10 lakh seats available on day one for the movie.
Coming to the part where those seats are to be filled, the advance sales of the Puneeth starrer are historic. The movie has sold over Rs. 4 crores in pre-sales in Bengaluru city for the opening day so far, which is already the opening day record for Sandalwood in the city. The first day numbers in the city may even hit Rs. 5 crores tomorrow. Mysuru city has a crazy advance with around 30,000 tix sold in the city for the opening day on around 110 shows. The overall advance for opening day in the state is estimated at Rs. 7.50-8 crores approx that place it among the top opening days. 
The Sandalwood box office is not as widely reported as the other industries from the South because the numbers that come out aren’t consistent. With a release this big and whatever numbers are there to see for advance bookings, a new high in opening day record for the industry is all but certain, overtaking the previous high of K.G.F. Chapter 1. The overall record in the state lies with Baahubali: The Conclusion, which grossed Rs. 17 crores approx including paid previews. How close the movie gets to that or if tops it, will be something to watch out for tomorrow.
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