First weekend performance of latest release

Two big movies released last Friday - 'Family' and 'Zinda'. As highlighted in our last week's reports, 'Family' seemed to be on a shaky ground even before the movie hit the marquee due to poor publicity and general lack of interest amongst the cinegoers. The only hope was director Raj Kumar Santoshi's style of dramatic execution that was expected to bail out 'Family'. In the end nothing like that happened as the movie received severe criticism all around. After 'Home Delivery' and 'Shikhar', 'Family' was yet another flick that received an all around flak with no one [except for a few critics] who came in front for the support. If the movie's opening was below mark, then subsequent word of mouth too was hardly encouraging. Aryeman turning into a main hero with Akshay Kumar relegated to special appearance too hasn't gone down too well with those who expected Amitabh-Akshay showdown. 'Family' seems to be on a way to be a certain no-show at the box office.

'Zinda' was never meant to be a family movie and the results showed in the box office collections. The movie is being primarily patronized by the men folk and is shaping up as a multiplex success. Still, that's not a bad sign either because Sanjay Gupta made the movie for such an audience and was sure about his target audience from day one. His confidence level in his product showed in the fact that he didn't even incorporate the item song 'Zinda Hoon Main' picturised on Lara Dutta lest it interfered with the movie's narrative. Copy/remake/rehash - call it whatever, the fact remains that he has been confident enough to present something new to the audience. At the box office, 'Zinda' should reap in little profits for its makers due to an open week ahead but a huge success is ruled out due to an audience restriction for such flicks in India.

Last week's movies

There were claims in certain sections of media that Jawani Diwani has done extremely well in Mumbai at least with collections exceeding 1 crore. But when the real numbers came out, the scenario was completely different. With collections of less than 50 lakhs in both Mumbai and Delhi [the biggest territories] and smaller towns too not painting a rosy picture, the total All-India score has been just around 4 crore. There was not much heard about the movie in its second week too which means that this low budget movie would manage to at maximum stretch to coverage. Even if it fails to do so, the losses would be minimal. Still this shouldn't matter to both Emraan Hashmi and Celina Jaitley as they have flurry of releases in coming few weeks. Yes, Hrishita Bhatt is certainly impacted by the movie's fate as her next 'Jigyaasa' doesn't promise much either.

There is hardly anything to report about 'Devaki' as it released in a handful of screens and neither got noticed nor received any acclaim. The movie had an unforgettable outing. '15 Park Avenue' made for niche audience was again released on a handful of screens and as expected performed best in Kolkata. Such kinds of movies require an extended run at the screens in special shows to reach out to the target audience. The final box office outcome can be declared only after that. By now the film has collected less than 50 lakhs.

From the past

Oh what a fall! One of the quickest exits ever for a biggie, 'Shikhar' hardly made an impression in its second week with just around 1.5 crores added to its kitty. The movie would end its run in the vicinity of 8 crores hence turning out to be a major failure for John Mathew Mathan. Ajay Devgan may still be less bothered because of his recent 'Apaharan' being a success but Shahid Kapoor certainly can't call 2005 as one of his better years professionally. Both Mr. Prime Minister and Anjaane were discontinued after a pathetic first week.

'Dosti' suffered a major fall in the third week with just around a crore added to its total. From places like Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Chennai, Bangalore etc., the collections were near to negligible. One can't expect much from the movie in the coming weeks as well since the movie is being discontinued at a majority of centers. The movie should end around 12 - 12.5 crores that is not really a flattering number for a movie with 4 major stars. In all these weeks, VLHTA in comparison with 'Dosti' had been doing half the business in half the number of screens it was released. The scenario was no different in its 3rd week though in cities [as mentioned above for Dosti], it performed better [read multiplexes]. The movie would soon end its run at around 7 crores hence being labeled as a flop.

'Bluffmaster' continues to be bumper in metros and cosmopolitan cities [that movie's target audience] and has done decent business even in its 4th week by collecting over 1 crore. Though a 20 crore total seems to be a distant dream, it should end somewhere in the vicinity of 18 crore. Makers can also expect good money inflow from DVD/VCD sales.

As mentioned in the last week's report, the time seemed to be ripe for the original DVD/VCD of 'Ek Ajnabee' and 'Neal N Nikki' to be out. This is what exactly happened since the theatres collections had hit rock bottom for both the movies. 'Ek Ajnabee' is ending its run at 7.5 crores while Neal N Nikki closes at less than 6 crores. 'Kalyug' continues its dream run with no sign of budging at all. The movie is surprisingly doing well even at this date inspite of number of flicks releasing every week. It showed a minimal fall by gaining around 50 lakhs more to take its total to more than 6.5 crore. It would be interesting to see if a Kunal Khemu starrer can come close to a Big B starrer's [Kalyug] total of 7.5 crore! Even 'Apaharan' continues to decent business in its 6th week with its total now approaching a comfortable 17 crore mark.

In the future

With Rang De Basanti being postponed to 26h January, there is not a single notable release this Friday. There are some indications that a small time movie 'Sun Zarra' may get released but chances seem quite bleak even on that front.