Election circus affects box-office

Failed attempt

Talking about this week’s releases, trade analyst, Vinod Mirani says that of the four films, none had the face value, nor any sort of draw. “They released during the dullest period of the year — the pre-Diwali. Also, each film catered a regional subject with scant identification for universal audience.”
Manoj Desai of G7 Cinemas mockingly remarks that he doesn’t even feel like that any films have released this week. “The theatres have been almost empty on all three days of the weekend,” says Desai talking about the single screen theatres like Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir where there has been no footfall at all.
“Tamanchey, Jigariyaa and Spark had a low response due to no star power. Ekkess… had an occupancy of 15 per cent,” adds Gautam Dutta, Chief Operating Officer, PVR Cinemas.
However, presenting a more rationale view, trade analyst Akshaye Rathi says that besides all the other things, the election circus in Maharashtra and Haryana has affected the business badly. “The election circus was right at the crescendo and thus it has not allowed the trade to smile,” he remarks adding that he is hopeful of a better next week.
What was surprising this week, according to Dutta, was the stupendous response that the Hollywood release, Annabelle has got. “The film has surprised many and that just goes to show that if the content is good, you will get the numbers. Annabelle is on a 70 per cent occupancy,” says Dutta.
Riding on the back of star-power, Bang Bang opened to good houses last week, as expected. The film, according to the figures provided by Fox Star Studio, has made Rs.154.68 crore nett in India while the worldwide collection has soared to Rs. 290.97 crore gross by the end of the second weekend. But Mirani remarks that the reports about its mediocre content caught up and the business saw a drop very soon. “The fall started a day after its release and got more pronounced as the new week began,” he remarks.
While Desai chooses to be mum about the business of Bang Bang, he is quite vocal when saying that the business of Haider could have been better, considering its beautiful theme.
“Haider has met with an indifferent response with few caring to talk about it. A pretentious film with a script penned on whims and fancy, it fails to identify with any sort of audience,” reasons Mirani as he says that the film continued to collect on the lower side of average throughout the week despite holidays to end its eight day week with Rs.35.15 crore.
Dutta adds that in week two, the occupancy of the films have been 35 and 40 per cent respectively.

Diwali Bonanza

But there’s hope for a good business. Rathi remarks that the lull is soon going to be overtaken by a Diwali bonanza. “A horror genre film like Mumbai 125 Kms is expected to bring the business back on track,” says Rathi as he recalls a similar scenario two years ago when Jab Tak Hain Jaan and Son Of Sardaar were to release on Diwali and the horror flick, 1920 released the week before and did a decent business.
This time, Mumbai 125 Kms is not the only film releasing. “Sonali Cable in Hindi and Kill The Messenger, Dracula: The Untold Story, Sex Tape in English are coming up as well. We expect the audiences to enjoy these before Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year is celebrated at the cinemas during Diwali,” concludes Dutta.