Christopher Nolan 's Tenet is most-watched film in India post-lockdown

Christopher Nolan was partly successful in helping the theatre business with his latest release, Tenet. The ambitious project's box office performance might have not matched up to his previous records, but it has brought many fans back to theatres during a dicey time in cinema business. According to a report by BookMyShow, Tenet, starring Robert Pattinson, John David Washington, and Dimple Kapadia, has emerged as the most-watched film in India post lockdown.

Cinemas have sold an estimated seven lakh tickets since reopening after the Covid-induced lockdown. There has been a steady increase in screens across India, with 2800 screens operational at the moment. Based on the data from October 16 to December 16, Tenet remains the most-watched film having sold three lakh tickets.

Second to Tenet in the Top Watched Movies Post Lockdown list by ticket sales is Biskoth (Tamil), followed by Irandam Kuththu (Tamil), Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari (Hindi), and Dracula Sir (Bengali). Dracula Sir was the first new film to release post the lockdown, during Dussehra.

The top cities for films post lockdown are Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and NCR.

In terms of in-home virtual entertainment, 2,33,219 consumers registered and bought tickets to watch virtual events. Based on the date from April 1 to December 18, sports (cricket), music shows, workshops, performances (acts such as circus), comedy, and online games emerged as the most popular genres.

Mumbai topped India's Most Entertained Virtually list, followed by Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Lucknow.

Dua Lipa's virtual event, Studio 2054, topped the International Game Changers (Best Performing Virtually). It was followed by One World Together: Global Citizen, Sunburn, The Buckleys, Taylor Castro, and Willie Gomez.

With regards to pre-lockdown times in 2020, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior was the top film. It is followed by Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (Telugu), Sarileru Neekevvaru (Telugu), Darbar (Tamil), Bheeshma (Telugu), Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (Hindi), Baaghi 3 (Hindi), Street Dancer 3 (Hindi), Anjaam Pathiraa (Malayalam), and 1917 (English).

Some of the Top Performing Artistes included Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Allu Arjun, and Mahesh Babu. Telugu films grew 215 per cent in the January-March 2020 period when compared to the same quarter in 2019, growing the most amongst regional cinema.

The top watched genres remained action, historicals, and drama. BookMyShow sold 2.1 million film tickets for a single day on January 12, the highest ever sold.

Baaghi 3 was the last film in theatres with 35 per cent watching the movie before the curtains were temporarily brought down on theatres in India.

"While a complete return to out-of-home entertainment will probably take a few more months, we foresee the future of entertainment to remain strong as people love to socialise and get out. However, we think there is an opportunity for a hybrid model where both out-of-home and a live experience on-ground may co-exist," said Ashish Hemrajani from BookMyShow.