First weekend performance of latest release

Box office performance of FOOL N FINAL surprised in ways more than one! While it was expected that the opening would be good [50-70%], it turned out to be very good in the end with 70% being the minimum occupancy over the first weekend. The film saw a good turnout for each of the three days [Fri-Sat] which ensured that the film would at least scrape through at the box office.

As things stand today, the first week collections should throw up a healthy number while the second week would depend completely on word of mouth. Ironically, this is the area where the film would have to be careful since audience reaction is pretty mixed with not many kicked about the film's erratic pace and comedy placement. If the film turns out to be an eventual success, Ahmed Khan would have to consider himself lucky since that would be solely due to efforts of Paresh Rawal, Johney Lever and Vivek Oberoi, none of whom are the main leads of the film!

Last week's movies

Now this one is a cracker of a box office performance! Could one have ever imagined that a hardcore action film with a realistic theme and carrying a city-centric title would break records across the country at number of places and place itself into the Top-10 list of all time first week box office earners? Well, SHOOT OUT AT LOKHANDWALA has done the impossible as it has collected as much as 18.5 crores in the first week to get itself a HIT tag right away! The film had a massive first week and even though there is an expected fall in second week, it is but obvious considering the fact that huge number of prints in circulation meant horde of audience having a dekko at the film in first week itself.

The film saw 4.25 crores coming from Mumbai but this was not the only place from which the film earned its moolah! Ahmedabad was superb too with close to 1 crore coming in while Delhi was good at 1.5 crores with NCR contributing further 70 lakhs.

Sanjay Dutt has proved his power at the box office once again while shifting from a usual gangster role to a tough cop. Vivek Oberoi has found a well deserved success for himself and should choose his projects with a close eye from here on. Apoorva Lakhia now has a big success under his belt and he has to thank his producer Sanjay Gupta for entrusting him with his responsibility and ensuring a massive promotional campaign to get the film number of eyeballs.

Once the SOAL euphoria calmed down to some degree after the opening weekend, audience gave CHEENI KUM a chance as well that meant that it didn't do bad for it at all. The first week collections for the film are healthy with 6.25 crores coming in from just 200 theaters. These figures are similar to what METRO earned in the first week with similar print count. The film was expectedly best in Mumbai with 2 crores coming in while Delhi was quite good too at 80 lakhs. Delhi NCR was very good at 55 lakhs.

CHEENI KUM is now expected to have a decent run considering the fact that majority of audience are not really minding the lukewarm second half and are contributing to fair word of mouth. Amitabh Bachchan has a solo success after a long time while Tabu has proved once again that it is not just Kajol who is missed most for her rare on-screen appearances.

From the past

Both RAQEEB and EK CHALIS KI LAST LOCAL saw a miserable drop in collections as they barely survived second week at the box office. After a 1 crore first week, RAQEEB managed to garner just around a couple of lakhs which elevates it to perhaps the top of the list of films that have taken biggest second week drop ever!

On the other hand EK CHALIS KI LAST LOCAL too hardly had any significant box office stay in its second week as it barely got another 20 lakhs to its name after taking close to 90% fall. At 1.8 crores, this low budget film is coverage at maximum though one would have expected a much better box office fate. After smiles all over in the first week, the cast and crew of the film would be left wondering if the better release timing with SOAL and CHEENI KUM not being an immediate competition could have perhaps helped the film's stay at the theaters for a longer period.

METRO had a third straight good week and though unlike second week, the drop wasn't negligible (it was around 55% compared to 20%), it was reasonable as it managed to hold good in spite of massive competition from SOAL and CHEENI KUM. In addition, it didn't fall on it's face and only followed the industry standard fall of around 50%. Getting further 2.25 crores to it's name with the collections reaching 13.5 crore, this well priced film is a clear HIT. Mumbai continues to be the best bet for the film with 50 lakhs more coming in while Delhi + NCR at 50 lakhs plus is decent too.

To it's credit, the film has moved even to B and C centers which was not quite expected for a film set in urban genre. UTV has planned the film's release strategy and market placement well and got METRO good commercial and critical acclaim.

GOOD BOY BAD BOY fell further by 75% but neither Emraan Hashmi nor Tusshar Kapoor would be overtly worried about the film's fate. While Emraan has THE TRAIN and AWARAPAN to look forward to, Tusshar has seen good success to his name in SOAL. At 7.25 crore and on it's way out of the theaters, GBBB is now at maximum a coverage at the box office.

TRRP continues to hang on well even with all the competition around and is doing decently to see it's progress from one week to another as per the industry fall. Getting more than 1.5 crores and sitting at 36 crores, TRRP is a yet another cool-family-hit for Yash Raj Films with their good fortune all set to continue with JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM which releases next week. BHEJA FRY earned another 20 lakhs in it's 7th week to reach 7.75 crores. Film's DVDs have released at just the right time as the film would now be aiming to leave the theaters at 8 crores. Superhit!

In the future

A hardcore masala film [THE TRAIN], a teen love story [MP3] and two social flicks [SWAMI, DHARM] would clash at the box office this Friday. Obviously THE TRAIN is expected to take the best start of all due to reasons such as a) Hit music, b) Emraan Hashmi and c) Eye catching promos. Still, don't expected a mind boggling opening since Hashmi movies typically open only decently with word of mouth taking them further along. Hence anything around a 50% opening should be considered safe for THE TRAIN.

On the other hand MP3 is a film that is mainly for the youth but would need very good word of mouth saddled with extensive promotion to help it's stand at the box office. Both SWAMI and DHARM have hardly been publicized and seem more like festival outings. Critical acclaim may come but it would be a surprise if any of the two manage worthwhile business at the box office.