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Border 2 is out on the big screens for only two weeks, and it's already recalibrating the baseline of 2026 for how brands look at cinema advertising. Border 2 crossed the ₹200 crore mark within its first week, a rare feat for a January release, showing cinema advertisers that trajectory matters as much as the opening number.
The pre-buzz around the Sunny Deol-starrer sequel drove brand interest, and its strong response in theatres fueled it further. According to industry insiders, 100+ retail and corporate brands showed intent for in-cinema ads tied to the film, with particularly strong traction from FMCG and FMCD categories
Starring Varaun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh and Ahan Shetty in lead roles, Border 2 has been framed (and received) as a large-scale cultural moment, one that combined legacy emotion with early audience validation.
Advance ticketing and phased campaign drops played a critical role in pushing advertiser interest early in the cycle. The campaign rollout, beginning with an Independence Day announcement, followed by a Vijay Diwas teaser and culminating in a Republic Day release, helped establish Border 2 as a high-decibel event.
Increasing footfall and interest in in-cinema ads
From an advertising lens, nostalgia around Border 2 was not deployed as a throwback but as a reassurance mechanism. “Legacy IPs like Border come with pre-existing emotional equity, and the campaign leaned into that familiarity to reduce perceived risk for advertisers,” shares Bryan Louis, Associate Account Director, White Rivers Media.
“Nostalgia was a deliberate trust-building device. By signalling continuity with the original’s patriotic tone and positioning the film around national moments, the messaging reassured brands that this would be a broad, sentiment-led cultural event rather than a niche release.”
Campaigns such as The Nation Speaks Back, which invited audiences to send voice notes to soldiers via WhatsApp, were designed to make the emotion participatory rather than referential. The iconic Sandese Aate Hain sentiment was reimagined as Ghar Kab Aaoge, helping the nostalgia translate for a digital-first audience.
“For advertisers, that emotional credibility becomes a proxy for predictability and scale,” Louis explains, adding: “Early traction plays a major role in unlocking advertiser confidence because brands respond quickly to momentum signals. When a film starts behaving like an event early in its campaign cycle, it reassures partners that audiences are already leaning in.”
Early momentum and brand confidence
At PVR INOX, the early signals were visible ahead of release. “With over 2 lakh advance tickets sold, Border 2 has opened to a phenomenal response at PVR INOX, reaffirming the audience’s enduring love for big, emotion-driven cinema while engaging a new generation of moviegoers discovering the franchise on the big screen,” notes Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR INOX Limited.
He adds, “The strong momentum across our cinemas reflects both the film’s legacy and its relevance for today’s audiences, positioning Border 2 for one of the biggest box office openings in recent times.”
Among those selling and buying cinema ad inventories, Border 2’s performance is being viewed as a broader positive signal for the medium in 2026.
“2025 showed us that cinema is getting big again, and 2026 has already opened strongly with a legacy film like Border 2,” shares Sachiin Guptaa, Country Head - Enterprise Business, UFO Moviez.
He adds that the movie is seeing equal interest from global brands like Google and ChatGPT, as well as retail brands such as Madhusudhan Ghee and Tulsi Nuts.
Campaign assets for reassurance
While no single asset carried the campaign, the consistency of emotional cues across touchpoints helped sustain advertiser confidence. “The alignment of patriotic positioning with the Republic Day release window was a clear confidence trigger,” Louis notes.
He adds, “The early poster and teaser anchored the emotional promise upfront, making it easier for advertisers to commit early. From there, each asset built forward like the action-led teasers, a patriotism-rooted trailer, music drops, and the Mitti Ke Bete tribute, creating a clear upward trajectory.”
Rather than isolated creative moments, it was the sustained signalling of scale, safety and cultural resonance that strengthened the film’s advertiser appeal.
For the cinema advertising ecosystem, the film reinforces a growing belief: that big, sentiment-driven films can still anchor brand conversations on the big screen, provided the momentum is visible early and sustained after release. In that sense, Border 2 is doing more than performing at the box office. It's helping reset how cinema advertising conversations happen in 2026.