A slow start

Mixed bag

Apparently, even the other releases of the week, including – Mad About Dance, Life Is Beautiful and the documentary Katiyabaaz – failed to entice the audience. But last week’s release Singham Returns continued its successful run at the BO. The film, according to a press release issued on August 25, has made Rs.127.94 crore (nett.) by the end of the second weekend.
Bollywood trade analyst N.P.Yadav is disappointed with the performance of the films that released this week. “While as a trade analyst, a woman-oriented film hardly excites us, we were expecting Mardaani to do well because it came from the house of Yashraj. But the response hasn’t been that great with the opening day being really disappointing,” says Yadav, adding that the other releases too will be forgotten soon.
However, Rajender Singh Jyala, Vice President, Programming and Distribution of INOX Leisure Ltd, says that the opening day may not have been good, but the word-of-mouth has worked in favour of the film. “Since Friday evening onwards, the footfall increased, taking the occupancy percentage to a consistent 60 to 70 per cent,” says Jyala.
Agrees Gautam Dutta, COO, PVR Cinemas, who informs that the numbers on Sunday were almost double of those on Friday. “The occupancy in the PVR chain was around 45 percent,” he says and adds that the other releases – Mad About Dance and Life Is Beautiful, have had an occupancy of just about 10 and 12 per cent respectively.
The response to Mardaani in single screen theatres has been much better though. Manoj Desai of G7 Cinemas says that on all three days, single screens including Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir witnessed 80-100 per cent occupancy. “Rani’s performance is being appreciated by almost everyone,” says Desai.
The week also saw the release of a documentary, Katiyabaaz. The film has received good review from critics, but on the business front Dutta says that documentaries are still for a niche audience. “While the theme of Katiyabaaz is extremely relevant, the audience for this documentary is limited,” he remarks.

Singham still going strong

Ajay Devgn’s Singham Returns continues its dream run, attracting audience to the theatres. “On Friday, the occupancy dipped, but it resurrected again on Saturday,” says Jyala.
While last week’s prediction that the film will soon cross the 100 crore mark has turned out true, experts think the magic will continue only till this week. “New films will take over from next week onwards,” says Jyala, who thinks that Singham Returns will not cross Rs.150 crore.
Some of the other releases from the past week have also been doing well. “Movies like Entertainment, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Singham Returns and The Hundred-Foot Journey are still attracting audience,” says Dutta.
Trade expert Vinod Mirani says that Entertainment has added Rs.11.75 crore in its second week to take its two week total to Rs.61.55 crore. “Kick has also collected Rs.2.2 crore in its third week taking its three week tally to Rs.226.1 crore,” he remarks.

International front

The week saw the release of the third installment of one of the biggest franchise – The Expendables. Dutta says Expendables III has performed well inspite of the inevitable fatigue that sets in with any franchise.
Desai agrees and says that the Hindi-dubbed version at single screens is doing quite well. “The theatres were almost housefull during the weekend,” he adds.
The coming week looks even better with some interesting releases. “While there’s Emraan Hashmi starrer Raja Natwarlal from which we have a lot of expectations, there are international films like the fifth installment of Step Up – Step Up All In and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that are already doing well in the US. All the films will dominate the box-office too in the coming week,” concludes Jyala.