Ramayana Part 2 Pushed to 2028 as Part One Opens With Near-₹150 Crore Pre-Sales

Ramayana: Part One opens worldwide Nov. 5 with advance sales approaching ₹150 crore, Hindustan Times reported, as producer Namit Malhotra confirmed Part 2 has moved from Diwali 2027 to 2028 and said the epic could still become a trilogy.

Nov 04, 2026 - 10:19

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Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Part One opens in theaters worldwide on Thursday, Nov. 5, with advance ticket sales closing in on ₹150 crore, according to Hindustan Times. In the same week, producer Namit Malhotra confirmed that the second film has been moved from Diwali 2027 to 2028 and said the story could still grow into a trilogy.

The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman and Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman. It is produced by Malhotra's Prime Focus Studios with DNEG and Yash's Monster Mind Creations. It will be released in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam across India.

Advance bookings in the final hours

Hindustan Times reported that pre-sales crossed ₹100 crore on Tuesday. By noon on Wednesday, Nov. 4, the film had grossed ₹78 crore in advance bookings in India, including ₹34 crore for opening day alone, and had sold more than 20 lakh (2 million) tickets in the country. Overseas pre-sales had reached $6 million, including $1.5 million from Wednesday paid previews in the United States. The worldwide advance total stood at ₹135 crore at noon, and the paper said trade insiders expected it to reach ₹150 crore by the end of the day.

According to the same report, bookings were slow for the first 10 days after they opened on Dussehra because of a standoff between exhibitors and distributors over revenue sharing. After that was resolved over the weekend, more screens opened. By Wednesday afternoon the film was on more than 6,000 screens in India, with over a thousand added in the previous 24 hours.

Hindustan Times projected about ₹40 crore in opening-day advance sales in India. That would put the film ahead of the opening-day pre-sales of Pathaan (₹27.2 crore), Stree 2 (₹28.3 crore), Animal (₹32.3 crore) and Adipurush (₹26 crore), the previous film adaptation of the epic, and the paper expected it to pass Jawan (₹34.5 crore) later on Wednesday. It remains well behind the Hindi record set in March by Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar The Revenge, which collected ₹95.6 crore before release with the help of paid previews.

Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer for cinemas at BookMyShow, told Hindustan Times that the film had sold "nearly a million tickets" on the platform before release. "Ramayana's advance booking trajectory signals the arrival of a major theatrical event," he said. Saksena said Hindi accounted for nearly three-fourths of advance bookings, with strong demand for the Kannada and Telugu dubbed versions, and that one in every five tickets was for a premium format such as IMAX, 3D, 4D, Dolby or EPIQ.

Trade site Glamsham gave a more cautious picture. It reported global pre-sales of about ₹111.50 crore as of Tuesday, Nov. 3, including ₹57.25 crore from India and $5.70 million overseas, and said sales in India had been "somewhat slower than expected for a film of this scale," with the upcoming Diwali festivities affecting some markets. It counted the United States as the strongest overseas market at $3.20 million and said the film is targeting an overseas opening weekend above $20 million, below initial expectations of $25 million to $30 million.

Part 2 moves to 2028

Ramayana was announced as a two-part film, and Variety reported in September that Part 2 would follow on Diwali 2027. Malhotra has now confirmed a one-year delay. "That extra year is what I genuinely believe we need to do justice for a film of this size," he told E! News, as quoted by Hindustan Times and The Indian Express. "We didn't want to do a rush job or get ahead of ourselves. We want to deliver the finale in the most grand way that it deserves."

In a separate interview with Review Nation, cited by both outlets, Malhotra said the project was first planned as a trilogy before the makers settled on two parts, and that the team might revisit that plan depending on how audiences respond. "I feel like we may sit back on the drawing board and see if there's anything else that we want to add or subtract, depending on how the world has received it," he said.

Malhotra also said the makers prepared two master versions of the first film, including an English version with a separate edit and a rewritten script for international audiences. "I'd love to not have to make two different versions. I'm sure Nitesh would also like to stick to one version," he said.

Premieres and release plan

The film premiered in Los Angeles last month and was screened in London on Nov. 1 for critics, including BAFTA jury members, according to India Today, which reported that reactions from the Los Angeles premiere were mixed. A cast-and-crew screening followed on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at an IMAX theater in Mumbai's Lower Parel, with a media screening set for Wednesday. News9 reported that guests included Alia Bhatt, Neetu Kapoor, Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh with Jackky Bhagnani, Lara Dutta, Vivek Oberoi and Malhotra.

Dharma Productions is distributing the film in India, and Sony Pictures is handling the international release, including China, according to India Today and News9. Deadline reported that the film features music by Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman and action choreography by Terry Notary and Guy Norris. Sony first announced a Nov. 6 global date, which was later moved up a day to Nov. 5.

Hindustan Times reported the film's budget at ₹4,000 crore, making it one of the most expensive productions in Indian cinema.