The CBFC's clearance of a major Hollywood tentpole for the same release window as Dhamaal 4 means Ajay Devgn's comedy sequel now faces a direct fight for premium multiplex screens. With exhibitors historically favouring Hollywood spectacles in IMAX and 3D formats, Dhamaal 4's distributor network is under pressure to lock screen commitments before the Hollywood release cannibalises its footprint.

Here is an uncomfortable truth Bollywood comedies have never quite reckoned with: you can open to packed houses on Friday, but by Monday the multiplex programmer's thumb hovers over your showtime — and a single Hollywood behemoth walking in with a censor certificate can make that thumb press delete. That is precisely the scenario now staring at Ajay Devgn's Dhamaal 4.

According to trade reports and CBFC listing data, a major Hollywood tentpole has received its certification for India release in a window that directly overlaps with Dhamaal 4's crucial theatrical run. The timing is not coincidental in spirit, even if it is on paper — Hollywood studios calibrate their India release calendars with surgical precision, and the censor board's green signal is the last domino before screens are formally locked.

The Multiplex Maths That Keep Distributors Awake

To understand why this matters, you need to see the screen economy the way an exhibitor does. India's roughly 9,500 multiplex screens are not a level playing field. According to data tracked by Ormax Media and Box Office India, premium formats — IMAX, 4DX, Dolby Cinema, PLF (Premium Large Format) — account for a disproportionate share of opening-week revenue, sometimes contributing 18–22% of a film's total gross despite representing a tiny fraction of the total screen count. These are the screens that charge ₹500–₹1,200 a ticket. And these are the screens a Hollywood visual spectacle almost always commandeers.

Dhamaal 4, for all its franchise loyalty, is a comedy — a genre that sells on word-of-mouth, repeat audiences, and evening family shows, not on the immersive-format premium. When a Hollywood action or sci-fi tentpole arrives, the PLF allocation maths tilt decisively. According to film trade analyst Taran Adarsh's past observations on similar clashes, a Hollywood blockbuster can absorb 30–40% of premium-format shows in top-eight metro cities within 48 hours of opening.

That is the screen-snatch equation India Herald's read suggests is now haunting Dhamaal 4's distribution team.

Inside Talk

The whisper in distribution circles, according to trade sources, is that Ajay Devgn's team had initially banked on a relatively open window — one where Dhamaal 4 could hold 3,000+ screens comfortably into its second week without a format clash. The CBFC clearance has reportedly reshuffled that assumption overnight. Industry insiders suggest that multiplex chains like PVR INOX and Cinepolis are already fielding calls from both camps, each trying to lock guaranteed show-counts before the other's advances harden.

There is talk in Film City corridors that the Dhamaal 4 camp may push for a higher revenue-share guarantee with exhibitors — a defensive move that trades margin for screen security. Whether that holds depends on the film's own second-week hold. And here is the rub: Dhamaal 4 opened to decidedly mixed critical reception, according to aggregated reviews tracked by multiple outlets. A sequel running on nostalgia rather than novelty needs those extra screens more, not less, because its audience is the casual weekend walk-in — precisely the audience a splashy Hollywood trailer in the lobby can redirect.

(This reflects industry chatter and unverified speculation, not confirmed fact.)

Why Comedies Always Lose the Format War

There is a structural reason Hindi comedies consistently yield premium screens to Hollywood. A comedy's value proposition is the joke, the ensemble chemistry, the callback — none of which require an 80-foot IMAX screen to land. An exhibitor deciding between a Dhamaal 4 show and a Hollywood visual extravaganza in the 7 PM PLF slot will almost always choose the title whose visual scale justifies the ₹900 ticket. The audience, too, self-selects: they will laugh at Dhamaal in a regular auditorium for ₹300 but want the big screen for the Hollywood film. As per past Box Office India data on similar clashes — think Golmaal sequels running into Marvel releases — the Hindi comedy's overall screen count may not drop dramatically, but its high-revenue-per-seat screens erode, dragging down per-screen averages and making the headline gross look softer than the audience size warrants.

This is the quiet killer. Dhamaal 4 might still sell tickets. It just might not sell enough of the expensive ones.

What Ajay Devgn's Camp Can — and Cannot — Control

Ajay Devgn, to his credit, is one of Bollywood's shrewdest producer-distributors. His track record with Tanhaji, Drishyam 2, and the Singham franchise shows a man who understands release-window strategy at a cellular level. But even Devgn cannot manufacture screens that do not exist. According to trade reports, his production and distribution teams are reportedly exploring accelerated OTT-window announcements — a move that, paradoxically, can boost theatrical urgency by signalling to audiences that the cinema experience is time-limited.

The other lever is the single-screen belt. India still has roughly 4,000-plus single screens, per National Film Development Corporation estimates, and these overwhelmingly favour Hindi-language content. Hollywood tentpoles rarely penetrate beyond tier-2 cities in the single-screen circuit. If Dhamaal 4's ground-level pull holds in the heartland — the Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar belt — it can offset some of the metro premium-screen bleed. But single-screen ticket prices are a fraction of multiplex PLF pricing, so the revenue arithmetic still tilts against the comedy.

The Forward Read: What to Watch For

India Herald's assessment is that the next 72 hours are the real battleground — not at the box office, but in the back offices of multiplex chains. If Dhamaal 4's advance booking for its second weekend shows momentum before the Hollywood release's advances open, Devgn's camp can negotiate from strength. If the Hollywood film's advance trends explode — as tentpoles often do — expect Dhamaal 4 to lose 500–800 premium-format shows nationally by its second Friday.

Watch, too, for the counter-programming move: a possible ticket-pricing intervention from the Dhamaal 4 camp, offering exhibitors a National Cinema Day-style discounted slot to keep footfalls competitive. It is a margin sacrifice, but in a screen war, occupancy is currency.

The larger question this collision forces is one Bollywood's comedy genre has dodged for years: in an era where every week brings a global tentpole to Indian shores, can a franchise comedy still command a three-week theatrical window — or has the format war permanently compressed the Hindi comedy's shelf life to ten days?

Ajay Devgn has answered harder questions than this before. But the censor board just handed someone else the answer sheet.

Key Takeaways

• The CBFC's clearance of a major Hollywood tentpole sets up a direct screen clash with Dhamaal 4, threatening its premium-format (IMAX, 4DX, PLF) allocation in metros.
• Premium-format screens can account for 18–22% of a film's total gross despite being a small share of total screens — losing them disproportionately hurts revenue.
• Hindi comedies structurally lose the format war because their value proposition does not require an 80-foot screen, making exhibitors favour spectacle films in high-ticket slots.
• Dhamaal 4's safety net lies in the single-screen heartland belt — but lower ticket prices there cannot fully offset metro premium-screen losses.
• The next 72 hours of advance-booking trends and distributor negotiations will determine whether Dhamaal 4 holds its second-week footprint or bleeds up to 500–800 premium shows nationally.