Just hours after online bookings in multiplexes in the city for actor Vijay’s latest Theri began at midnight, social media exploded with memes and screenshots of the multiplex websites displaying houseful shows early on Sunday.
The film, directed by Atlee — his second after Raja Rani — is currently the only major release for Tamil New Year on April 14, a holiday which generally sees a clash of major releases. “We opened advance bookings at midnight and by 6 a.m., we sold nearly 6,000 tickets. The response has been phenomenal and so far, it seems like the only confirmed release for April 14,” said Abirami Ramanathan, managing director of Abirami Multiplex.
Among the screenshots going viral on Twitter and Facebook were of sold-out shows at SPI cinemas in the city, which have scheduled 104 shows on Thursday across five multiplexes in the city.
Going beyond promotional activities and celebrations that begin on the day of release, Vijay’s strong fan base has kept up a sustained social media campaign with memes, fan-made posters and short videos since the release of the film’s teaser.
“Visuals of the movie have been very appealing and this has given us a lot of content for unofficial promotion online. Our expectations are sky high for the movie, as is usually with any Vijay film,” said S. Bala, a student.
Many fans said they ensured they caught the first-day, first-show of all Vijay films early in the morning at Vettri theatre in Chromepet as the atmosphere there was the best, said S. Nithish, a software engineer who has a fan website for the actor.
Replicating the fanfare on the release day in across Chennai, G. Ashwath, an analyst at New Jersey where the film is expected to release, said: “Advance bookings start from Monday and the theatres here have told us that based on the demand, they will add more shows if needed.”
