Finding Fanny gets an edge over Creature 3D

Finding Fanny earned only Rs.5.1 crore on the opening day, but Saturday saw a slight jump as the figures went up to Rs.7.05 crore. But while trade experts expected more growth on Sunday, the collections just went slightly up to Rs.7.75 crore. Thus, the film’s opening weekend collections was Rs.19.90 crore, and though there was a slight dip on Monday, experts suggest that the collections will remain more or less steady. Keeping in mind the budget of the film (Rs.12 crore inclusive of both cost of production and prints & advertising), exhibitor – distributor Akshaye Rathi believes that the film is on its way to earning decent profits. “The film was a complete surprise package. What worked in Finding Fanny’s favour was the fact that none of the actors charged their market price. Had that been the case, the budget would have shot up considerably and the film would have suffered a huge blow. The presence of Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor also helped the film. Finding Fanny is a potential trendsetter and with it’s performance, can be called a semi-hit at the box – office.” Distributor Girish Johar adds that Finding Fanny got an upper hand because of the good word- of- mouth publicity and hype. “But yes, we did expect that there will be some jump on Sunday, but that didn’t happen. The collections on Sunday just went up by a few lakhs. But having said that, the film will be able to stay steady during the weekday,” mentioned distributor Girish Johar. According to Gautam Dutta, COO – PVR Cinemas, the film saw an average occupancy of 45 per cent during the opening weekend and has enjoyed patronage in metro and metro cities across India. Manoj Desai of G7 too agreed and stated that the film fared better than Creature 3D, with 90-95 per cent occupancy on an average.

No mass appeal

Made on a budget of Rs.25 crore (inclusive of COP and P&A) Creature 3D banked heavily on masses and was expected to do well at the single screens, which it almost did. But, the response at multiplexes was lukewarm. While it managed to earn Rs. 3.24 crore on the opening day, the number went up to Rs.3.64 crore on Saturday, and Sunday saw a small jump with Rs.4.48 crore. “The masses did not respond well to the film, which was the reason why the collections weren’t up to the mark. But it did perform well in Northern centres, especially Uttar Pradesh,” stated Johar. Trade analyst Vinod Mirani attributes the film’s poor performance to the long length of the film. “At 135 minutes, the audience found the film too long and taxing for a horror film, with repetitive sequences. The film saw a dull opening and failed to improve on Saturday and Sunday. Also, 3-D is no more a novelty. The overall weekend collections were not very encouraging,” mentioned Mirani. Dutta adds that the film saw only 30 per cent occupancy and has met with success in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Desai stated that while Sunday saw a full house, the other shows only saw 60 – 70 per cent occupancy, which was lower than his expectations. But despite the slow run, Rathi said that the film won’t lose money. “While we can’t deny the fact that expectations from this film were high, Creature 3D can still be called a game changer in its own way. But, looking at the trend, it will continue to perform below average. Yet, the film won’t see red, as the satelliate and music rights have been well monetised by T – Series, which will help the film to break even,” he added.
Last week’s release Mary Kom was steady, collecting Rs.55.5 crore at the end of second weekend. According to Dutta, the film saw 45 per cent occupancy, which was more than this week’s releases.

International wave

The overseas collections too were in Finding Fanny‘s favour, as the film collected Rs.1.77 crore on the opening day from various centres, including North America, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand among others. On the other hand, Creature 3D, which was released in fewer centres, collected Rs.3 lacs from three countries — United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

priya.adivarekar@expressindia.com