First weekend performance of latest release

Yes, it has happened. While November saw the Diwali battle of OM SHANTI OM and SAAWARIYA getting murkier with every passing day and OM SHANTI OM turning out to be eventual winner, in case of WELCOME and TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, the GADAR v/s LAGAAN nostalgia has been revisited. Both the films have worked with the target audience in a big way and while WELCOME got into the fifth gear from the very first show itself, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR caught on in the same way as CHAK DE INDIA earlier this year by the time opening Friday came to a closure.

As anticipated, WELCOME opened to >80% response while TAARE ZAMEEN PAR too near around 50% opening only to improve further as the days progressed. Pleasant part about both the films is that they have not been restricted to the mass (WELCOME) and class (TZP) respectively; they have cut across segments with both films turning out to be eventual winners. As of now there are smiles all around for both Akshay and Aamir and it is only going to be 'mauja hi mauja' as the year comes to an end.

Last week's movies

STRANGERS has turned out to be one week runner at the box office. The film just couldn't fight a battle in spite of good reviews from critics as well has those who saw the film over the first weekend. The film failed to find a spot in even Top-5 grossers of the week gone by and collected merely 40 lakhs from across the country. While a figure like this usually comes from a single chain of multiplexes for a medium budgeted/biggie film, it is embarrassing to say the least or STRANGERS. Not a single city came up with noteworthy collections and only two takeaways from the film are a) Emergence of a new talented director in the form of Anand L Rai (will he make more thrillers please?) and Jimmy Sheirgill who continues to make his presence felt loud and clear.

From the past

After an uninspiring first week, DUS KAHANIYAAN crashed further with zero chances of recovery from this point on. A 75% fall is catastrophic for any film, small, medium or big and when it hits a multi starrer like DUS KAHANIYAAN which was anyways reeling at a little over 7 crores after first week, a 75% fall meant only around 2 crores being added to the film's total. In Mumbai, the film collected around 50 lakhs though in Delhi it completely crashed and folded up at 15 lakhs.

With overall collections marginally below 10 crores, DUS KAHANIYAAN is turning out to be a film with some of the lowest collections for a Sanjay Gupta though a poor run of this scale would continue to remain unexplained. A box office flop, the only hopes lie with DVD sales of the film.

KHOYA KHOYA CHAND has met with an even worse fate and though percentage wise the fall was 75% here as well, in terms of revenue it meant only 40 lakhs added to it's last week's total. At a little under 2 crores, the film is a major flop and turns out to be yet another critically appreciated but a commercial failure for director Sudhir Mishra. He should bounce back with Neil Mukesh starrer TERA KYA HOGA JOHNY in 2008 though.

With new releases failing to make a mark, a film that has marginally benefited is AAJA NACHLE. The film did take a fall but in the range of 60% which was decent enough to help the film gain 1.5 crores further. At 15.5 crores, the film is still nowhere near the safety mark but has got some moolah coming into the coffers. This is one of those films which would find an early DVD release.

GOAL too has fell down only marginally (35%) and earned another 65 lakhs. At 16.5 crores, the film is a good average runner and should be seen on DVDs soon.

Meanwhile old warhorses like OM SHANTI OM and JAB WE MET continue to be strong at theaters. In it's 6th week, OM SHANTI OM got close to 1.75 crores more after dropping by less than 30% and crossed the enviable 85 crore mark hence coming neck to neck with the all time high total set by DHOOM 2. It should be a matter of one week before OM SHANTI OM turns out to be the highest net earner ever!

On the other hand JAB WE MET showed an increase in collections due to greater number of shows and continued patronage and saw an escalation by 15%. Crossing 1 crore mark again in it's 8th week, the film now stands at 30 crores and refuses to die down in spite of the film's DVDs being out on stands.

In the future

None of the two releases of the week, either RETURN OF HANUMAN or SHOWBIZ, are expected to set the screen on fire. While HANUMAN, a prequel to RETURN OF HANUMAN, was a novel experience and turned out to be a surprise hit when released two years back, surprisingly the latest in the offering hasn't created a similar buzz. The film is expected to take a slow start. On the other hand SHOWBIZ sees the minimal ever hype from Vishesh Films for any of their films from past and present. With zero face value, lack of buzz and plain average music, there are no box office hopes from this film.