Released on Friday, the film starring Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Manoj Bajpayee and Deepika Padukone, is described as a well-crafted film on the need for education. The film was said to be made for Rs 42 crore.
"The occupancy stayed around 60-70 per cent. The film did not release in Uttar Pradesh. The response in Delhi was average. On Saturday-Sunday cops had stopped the screening of the film in Gurgaon due to security issues, so it did affect the business," said a source from PVR Cinemas.
Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (Cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, said: The response to the film was not as good as we expected. We were expecting that the occupancy would be 100 percent as it was a long weekend but the occupancy has been 70 to 80 per cent. It might be because most of the people went on vacation. The film is likely to pick up in the second week."
Prakash Jha had anticipated losses when the film was banned in three states -- Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh for fear of anti-Dalit comments in the movie.
Though the ban was lifted in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday and in Punjab on Monday, it is still on in Uttar Pradesh, which has the maximum Hindi speaking audience.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply by Thursday to filmmaker Prakash Jha's petition seeking a stay of the ban.
"The film did not release in Uttar Pradesh as a result there was a 50 per cent drop in our business," said Puneet Sahay, senior manager for programming and operations at Spice Cinemas, Noida.
"We were running old films and it's occupancy was also around 25 per cent. We were looking upto Aarakshan as it was a long weekend but due to the ban we have indeed suffered losses."
The announcement was probably made not just for the benefit of his fans, but also for his Bollywood contemporaries. After all, if he's considering optimising the most revenue generating weekend of the year, he might as well give a heads-up to those considering a release date around that time.
But Farhan's not the only one. Shah Rukh Khan is reportedly contemplating a Diwali weekend release for his ambitious sci-fi production "RA.One", while Salman Khan is looking at the Eid weekend for the release of "Bodyguard", starring Kareena Kapoor. And director Madhur Bhandarkar did quite the flip-flop while deciding on a date for the release of "Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji". He shifted the date from January 28 to January 26 to capitalise on the holiday's advantage, but then shifted it again to the 28th.
Where big ticket movies are concerned, filmmakers try to 'book' one of the five most profitable weekends of the year for their movie's release almost four-five months in advance. Says Tanuj Garg, CEO of Balaji Motion Pictures, "When producers come with big-budget movies, they like to take advantage of one of the five most important weekends of the year - Republic Day, Independence Day, Eid, Diwali and Christmas. And once they tentatively decide on the dates, they make announcements, at least in the trade, for a heads-up to the others. The truth is that everyone, especially the big stars, are always battling for these dates as soon as their movies are decided."
Malamaal weekly
The math is simple, say directors. These weekends mean an additional holiday, which means more people heading to theatres. Says director Vipul Shah, whose "Action Replayy" released on the Diwali weekend in 2010, "These days are helpful, even though one doesn't particularly finish work to ensure a release on one of these four-five big days. But yes, if your movie does finish around this time, the dates give you a 20-25% increase in revenue." Those in the trade agree. Says Anant Varma of DT Cinemas, "The revenue depends on whether these dates fall on a weekday or weekend, but they are always more important than others. Of all the dates, Christmas is the biggest week, and Aamir Khan has always done something special for it, and almost has a monopoly over it."
Santa clause?
But those in the industry do not acknowledge any such monopoly. Director Farah Khan, who released her "Tees Maar Khan" on Christmas weekend last year, says she never checked with Aamir if she could release the film on that date, contrary to stories. Even Vikas Bahl of UTV, who produced the movie, says, "It's no one's weekend but Santa's. Perhaps Santa goes to Aamir's chimney more often around that time, but it's always open to others too. "TMK" did good business."
Irrespective of the superstar, the Christmas weekend has great potential, says Kamal Gyanchandnani of PVR Pictures. He explains, "Yes, the numbers speak louder in Aamir's case, but the weekend is such that it generates more revenue. Christmas is a pure holiday and you don't have any social obligations. During Diwali, people are busy distributing gifts and don't have so much time for entertainment. In terms of pecking order, Christmas is the most important and January 26 the least."
The release date for Prakash Jha's " Aarakshan" was decided months in advance, and the director has been quoted as saying, "One has to do deep thinking for tapping the film business. I had decided on Aug 12 as the release date of "Aarakshan" even before I started shooting it. By releasing it that day, we are getting Rakhi, Independence Day (August 15) and a week or so later, Janmashtami (August 22) too. With so many holidays and festivals, we hope to get a lot of footfall in cinema halls."
War of the weekends
Republic Day week (January 28):
Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji
Eid week (August 30): Bodyguard
Diwali (Mid October): RA.One
Christmas (December 23): Don 2
Released by Eros International, the film starring Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin and Katrina Kaif has earned Rs.86 crore at the domestic box office (net collection Rs.60 crore) and Rs.22 crore overseas.
The film released on over 1,800 screens.
"We are ecstatic with the audience as well as critics' reactions to 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. The superb run of the film so far, especially across multiplexes, has superseded all expectations and we are expecting the film to continue its excellent performance in the coming week as well," Nandu Ahuja, senior vice president (Distribution), India, Eros International Media Ltd, said in a statement.
The film opened to rave reviews and raked in Rs.52.50 crores worldwide in the very first weekend.
New releases go unnoticed. Singham rules the box-office | Top 5 Hindi films of the week
0 comments Posted by Baserolo at 7:44 AM
There really seems to be some kind of revolution happening at the box-office. In an industry when all that matters for any film is the first weekend collections, films are going on to earn crores even in their second and third weekend. Ajay Devgn's Singham seems to be on a roll and so does Hrithik-Farhan-Abhay's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara . With no big competition in their successive weeks, both the films are enjoying a steady run at the box office. Singham has collected Rs 14 crores in its second week and ZNMD is already a super-hit which continues to gain repeat audience in its third week.
The lack of competition in the form of big releases can be attributed to the start of the Ramzan period, which isn't considered a good period for movie business. So barring Aarakshan , one would have to wait for a month for the next big Bollywood release in the form of Salman Khan's Eid attraction Bodyguard .
But at the same time, this period is also a blessing in disguise for small films, which have no competition from bigger releases, thereby making it the safest time for them to come out. So you would see a string of small releases lined up for release and multiple releases clashing with each other every Friday. Only the ones decent on content and lucky enough to get public attention manage to survive the battle, while others are lost in oblivion.
Same was the case this week with three smallies releasing simultaneously. Bubble Gum , despite gaining decent reviews, couldn't get many screens across the city. So was the case with the issue-based Khap (Om Puri) and Gandhi To Hitler which had a very poor release and went unnoticed with almost nil audience.
The coming week sees more of such small releases. The National Award winning I Am Kalam which has already been screened at several film festivals across the world will make its theatrical release this Friday. Considering it's a quality product, the film should gain decent audience. Pankaj Kapoor's popular TV sitcom Office Office has been upgraded to a film version in the form of Chala Musaddi Office Office with the same cast and characters from the TV serial. It needs to be seen whether the satirical series, which was a huge hit on the small screen, works on the big screen as well.
Top 5 Films this Week
Film: Singham
Position: 1
Director: Rohit Shetty
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kajal Aggarwal, Prakash Raj, Ashok Saraf
Upside: Ajay Devgn's authentic intensity, gripping fast-paced narrative
Downside: Dull romance track, cliched corruption plot, unrealistic heroism, sloppy pre-climax
Running Week: 2
Trade Comments: With no big opposition, Singham continued to rule the box-office in its second week also. The film collected a mind-blowing sum of Rs 14 crores in its second week. The gross collections have already crossed Rs 60 crores even before the second week ends. Ceratinly a Super Hit!
Film: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Position: 2
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin
Upside: Good performances, smart humour, riveting adventure sport moments, Spain beautifully captured on camera
Downside: Slow at times, long length, abrupt end
Running Week: 3
Box-Office Verdict: Super Hit
Film: Delhi Belly
Position: 3
Director: Abhinay Deo
Cast: Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Kapoor, Poorna Jagganathan, Vijay Raaz
Upside: Superb humour, riveting story, good performances, authentic dark comedy feel
Downside: Practically nothing
Running Week: 5
Box-Office Verdict: Super Hit
Film: Murder 2
Position: 4
Director: Mohit Suri
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Prashant Narayanan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sulagna
Upside: Interesting plot, Prashant Narayanan's abnormal characterization and performance, decent direction, good music
Downside: Stretched second half, cliched climax, unconnected romance track of Emraan-Jacqueline
Running Week: 4
Box-Office Verdict: Super Hit
Film: Bubble Gum
Position: 5
Director: Sanjeevan Lal
Cast: Delzad Hiravali, Sohail Lakhani, Suraj Singh, Apoorva Arora, Sachin Khedekar, Tanvi Azmi
Upside: Simplicity is story and direction, honest attempt at understanding child psyche, authentic revival of the 80s, good performances
Downside: Slow, long and repetitive
Running Week: 1
Trade Comments: Despite being decent on content, this small film, without the backing of any big banner, hardly got screens across the city. Most cinema-halls preferred playing Singham and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara over the new and negligible releases. So Bubble Gum went unnoticed.
Box office report: New releases fall flat; Singham continues to roar!
0 comments Posted by Baserolo at 6:06 AM
The three new releases of this Friday fell flat at box office. Rather, it’s Singham and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara that continue to draw crowds.
Gandhi To Hitler, Khap and Bubble Gum -- this Friday’s three new releases -- saw a lukewarm response at box office on the very opening day. Gandhi To Hitler and Khap were expected to attract a few footfalls but failed to do so. Even the critics have panned all the three films. In comparison, the Hollywood releases Cowboys & Angels, The Smurfs and The Tree of Life saw a better response.
On the other hand, Singham completed its first week run at box office with a collection of a little over Rs. 50 crore nett, making the film a superhit. What’s more heartening is that the film continued to hold steady on Friday.
Likewise, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is still attracting movie buffs to theatres. The film rounded off its two-week run at theatres with a collection of Rs. 63.25 crore nett. It is expected to touch the Rs. 80 crore mark by the end of the coming week.
The coming Friday would again see the multiple release of small budget films. The next big release from Bollywood would be Aarakshan on August 12, which will be followed by a long four-day weekend because of two gazetted holidays. The movie is expected to open well.
