First weekend performance of latest release

Animation films are not working in India. Well, just about. After a flash in the form of HANUMAN which made some waves two years back, there has been a splurge of animation films in the form of KRISHNA, BAL GANESHA, MY FRIEND GANESHA etc. but none of them have worked at the box office. In fact if one leaves aside BAL GANESHA, none of the other films have much to cheer about when it comes to quality of animation. Latest release RETURN OF HANUMAN turned out to be no different and an uninspiring buzz just paved the way for a no-show at the box office. The film hasn't even got an opening, let aside some word of mouth to help it sustain at all, and in the process has turned out to be the last flop of 2007.

SHOWBIZ was even poorer and has now turned out to be yet another big box office disaster for the Bhatts after DHOKHA in the year gone by. There was complete disinterest shown even by the makers who seemed to have lost confidence in the project even as it was being readied to reach the finishing line. Newcomer Tushar Jalota was average too and the film being plain bad even as it had a wonderful subject (expose of media) in hand. Result? A maximum one week runner which won't find any takers even on DVD circuits.

Last week's movies

It's confirmed. WELCOME v/s TAARE ZAMEEN PAR has indeed turned out to be GADAR v/s LAGAAN situation revisited in it's true format. Both the films have brought cheers at the box office with the winters heating up the theater screens in a big way.

Let's talk about WELCOME first. The film is now Akshay Kumar's biggest ever box office opener and is next only to OM SHANTI OM when it comes to all time best opening for a Bollywood film. At an astonishing first week billing which has crossed 35 crores, WELCOME has done close to 90% business of Anees Bazmee's last superhit NO ENTRY in one week flat. Coming to the week gone by, WELCOME was exceptional across all centers whether it was Mumbai (~6 crores), Delhi (~3 crores), Delhi NCR (~2.5 crores), Kolkota (~1.25 crores), Ahmedabad (~2 crores), Pune (~2 crores), Bangalore (~ 1 crore) or Hyderabad (~1 crore).

With 50 crores total to be surpassed in 2 weeks itself and no notable release till 25th January (when SUNDAY arrives), 70 crores is the minimum that WELCOME would be aiming for from this point on. Also, credit definitely must go to Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor who were the true heroes of the film when it came to getting some of the best lines and scenes to enact.

Meanwhile TAARE ZAMEEN PAR has only grown from strength to strength the moment opening Friday came to a close. Getting critical acclaim, love from audience and appreciation across all quarters, this directorial venture of Aamir Khan is all set to be a 'lambi race ka ghoda' and is expected to show minimal fall in weeks to follow. The film has been tremendous in Mumbai from where it earned over 4 crores. Meanwhile Delhi too has held fort with more 2.5 crores coming in. Bangalore has pleasantly surprised though with 1 crore + as the first week billing. Releasing mainly at multiplexes and coming at only 40% of the screens in comparison to WELCOME, the film has earned over 16 crores, hence proving to be yet another success for Aamir Khan.

From the past

STRANGERS has turned out to be a box office disaster and in the process brings an end to a year which Jimmy Sheirgill would want to forget. With a series of box office failures behind him (DELHII HEIGHTS, VICTORIA NO. 203, CHODDON NAA YAAR, STRANGERS), the only silver lining for Jimmy is the critical acclaim he has received even for worst of his films. With a no-show in the second week, STRANGERS has ended it's run at mere 44 lakhs.

In a week which was dominated by WELCOME and TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, DUS KAHANIYAAN has shown a huge fall too (~95%) and is now staring at a DVD release. In fact that is one market where the film is expected to do quite well though at box office, the film has folded up at 10 crores by adding only a little over 10 lakhs in the week gone by.

Comparatively AAJA NACHLE, a film was released before DUS KAHANIYAAN, has still managed to stay on in the Top-5 even after falling by 80%. With 30 lakhs more coming in, the film has touched 16 crores but won't have an extended run form this point on. GOAL earned only 10 lakhs more and is ending it's run marginally below 17 crores.

Meanwhile in the week which led to OM SHANTI OM completing 50 days at the box office, the film finally crossed the all time high total of DHOOM 2 and is now only a little below 86 crores. With 50 lakhs in it's kitty after taking a mighty 70% fall due to WELCOME/TZP euphoria, the film is now looking at a DVD release. Ironically, when all the movies from the past fell by 70% or more, the only film to see a little less than 70% decline was JAB WE MET. With the film continuing to make an impression both at the DVD stands and theaters, the film added another 30 lakhs to it's total of 30 crores.

In the future

With January first week jinx scaring away makers from releasing any of their films, there are no new notable releases this weekend.