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Maddock Films and Luv Films bet heavily on this one, pouring a whopping 150 crores into its production. The movie is scheduled to release on June 19th, starring Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, and Rashmika Mandanna in what is being billed as a spiritual successor to the 2012 hit “Cocktail.” Homi Adajania returns to the director’s chair, and the marketing blitzkrieg has been focused on getting the music from Pritam, including tracks like “Vallah” and “Mashooqa,” out to the masses. The film has been shot in locations across Sicily, Delhi, and Gurugram.
On paper, everything points towards a blockbuster. And then came June 14th midnight, when the advance booking windows were opened to the public.
The numbers are quite disheartening. In the first two days of the pre-sale window, the film has managed to sell around 12,116 tickets. These are for 3,839 shows across the entire country on day one of the release. So far, the total collection from advance booking is estimated at approximately 49.14 lakhs. Trade analysts predict the opening day collection to be in the region of 1.80 crores, which is incredibly poor considering the sheer investment. Out of the 150 crore budget, 95 crores have been used for the production itself, with a total of 35 crores paid to the actors. When we start comparing this with ticket numbers, it doesn’t look good.
A-Rating Hurts Box Office Prospects
The Central Board of Film Certification has awarded “Cocktail 2” with an A certificate, meaning only adults can buy tickets to the film. This significantly alters the revenue model of the movie, as the audience pool shrinks.
Teenagers and families, who constitute a massive part of the film-going audience, are excluded. This is the first time in 12 years that Kriti Sanon has had a film with an A rating, and even Rashmika Mandanna’s previous hit, Animal, had a rating of A, although the hype around that movie was far more than that in Cocktail 2. Shahid Kapoor has had films like “Kabir Singh,” “Udta Punjab,” “Kaminey” and “O’Romeo” with an A certificate, but both “Kabir Singh” and “Animal” had intense, aggressive marketing machines. “Cocktail 2” is marketed as a chaotic romantic comedy-drama. The genre relies heavily on college students and family groups, and restricting the audience severely impacts footfall numbers. Multiplex owners will no longer be able to bank on family groups in the afternoon on a Saturday or Sunday.
Long Runtime Suffocates Multiplexes
The movie’s final run time is 150 minutes, which is two and a half hours. This creates problems for exhibitors. A long movie demands significant time for the theater to clean the auditorium. For a movie running this long, a multiplex may not be able to screen it more than four times in a single auditorium in a day, as opposed to five for a 120-minute movie. With such restrictions, the revenue margins of a multiplex decrease substantially. When you combine a restricted adult audience with the long runtime, the problem becomes even bigger. The trailers depict a complex love triangle, with the characters moving around quite a bit, arguing and having heated conversations. The story will take some time to develop, and most audiences will not invest two and a half hours in a romantic drama unless they are sure it’s worth the time. So, the word of mouth is a crucial element that will decide if people decide to open their wallets for this movie.
Clustered Sales in Key Markets
The advance booking statistics reveal a severe geographical disparity in the interest for the movie, indicating that the film is not really connecting with the audiences across the country. The strongest markets are currently Delhi NCR (12.43 Lakhs from 606 shows for day 1) and Maharashtra (11.20 Lakhs from 759 shows for day 1). After these two states, there’s a steep drop in ticket sales. Gujarat shows a meager collection of 4.90 Lakhs from 689 shows scheduled, with an almost non-existent occupancy rate. Rajasthan brings in 4.51 Lakhs, Telangana has 3.75 Lakhs, and Karnataka contributes a dismal 3.33 Lakhs.
The rest of the Hindi belt has shown extremely poor interest. Uttar Pradesh has earned a paltry 1.04 Lakhs from advance bookings, while Punjab has managed 1.16 Lakhs. Madhya Pradesh has earned 1.29 Lakhs, and West Bengal is close at 1.44 Lakhs. Most other states have an occupancy of 0-4 percent, and there is practically no buzz in regions such as Uttarakhand and Goa.
Financial Crunch and Actor Pay Checks
Reports indicated that the actors took a massive cut from the 150 crore budget. The figures for actor paychecks suggest that Shahid Kapoor earned significantly more than Kriti Sanon and Rashmika Mandanna combined. To recover such an investment, a massive opening weekend is a necessity. However, it appears that “Cocktail 2” will be heavily dependent on spot bookings due to the slow advance booking window, and a poor Friday morning will almost certainly deter walk-in audiences. The songs have been heavily pushed by the music label; four tracks have been released between April and June, with Arijit Singh singing two of them, and Sunidhi Chauhan, Harrdy Sandhu, and Akasa Singh also lending their voices.
Dinesh Vijan and Luv Ranjan have undoubtedly bet on the youth audience in metros, and Luv Ranjan’s career has been built on modern relationship stories. However, the response indicates that the audience is hesitating, and is perhaps put off by the ticket prices, the long runtime and the ‘A’ rating.
The Next Wave of Releases on the Horizon
“Cocktail 2” doesn’t have a completely clear runway, with a new release, “Welcome To The Jungle,” just weeks away. Major multiplex chains such as PVR INOX and Cinepolis will be observing the initial sales extremely closely, and if a film doesn’t do well on Friday and Saturday, its screens will almost certainly be handed over to the next big release on Monday.
The sales of 12,116 tickets have mostly been contributed by die-hard fans, and the general public is yet to show any interest in the film. The movie finished shooting in January 2026 and the filming of the last scenes was completed by Homi Adajania in Gurugram on January 31st, with close to five months used for building the anticipation and buzz. The trailer for the movie was released on June 2nd, and the team has taken the cast to multiple cities such as Pune to promote the film.
Despite all the physical promotions and the constant updates on social media, the digital sales platform is showing vacant seats. Ticket booking platforms show a large number of green, empty slots in multiplexes in metros and small cities alike. While the seats for weekend evening shows in Delhi and Mumbai have already been snapped up by fans, morning and afternoon shows still stand empty. It remains to be seen whether this slow response is just a delayed reaction or a complete lack of interest in the film.
