First weekend performance of latest release

JANNAT has taken a huge opening all over and it is only going to be 'mauja hi mauja' from here on for this Emraan Hashmi starrer. Reason? Not just the film stays on as the only release of the week, the days to come would also be hardly throwing much challenge on it's way. Though Bhatts had a hat trick of box office failures in the form of DHOKHA, AWARAPAN and SHOWBIZ in the year gone by, JANNAT has brought the smiles back on their faces.

The film not just took a good opening on Friday, it continued to show a constant escalation on Saturday and Sunday as well. Cricket theme, Pritam's superhit music, Emraan Hashmi's pull, fantastic promotion, solo release - everything just about fitted in perfectly well for JANNAT which has made it one of the biggest openers this year that has only seen RACE and JODHAA AKBAR as the two bona fide successes. Now JANNAT is all set to be the third big success of the year and it only has to be seen that how big a success it eventually turns out to be. As of today, the film is a HIT for sure!

Last week's movies

There were two things brought to attention in this column last week. a) It was plain hogwash about BHOOTHNATH showing constant escalation as days passed by. The fact always remained that the film was always on a sticky ground. b) Second weekend was crucial to the film sailing past the safety line. Well, as of now JANNAT has clearly disrupted the chances of BHOOTHNATH to sustain itself at the box office.

With only 14 crores coming in the first week, it would require a close watch to declare the box office outcome of BHOOTHNATH. However, at maximum, the film appears to be a coverage preposition. The film was best in Mumbai with 3 crores while Delhi was a decent 1.5 crores.

In spite of a reasonably big release (400+ cinemas), JIMMY has turned out to be a big disaster at the box office. At only 1.5 crores at the box office and bare minimum collections expected in days to come, the film has tanked and how. Actually, if one looks at the film's fate, even 1.5 crores seems to be on the higher side considering how shabbily made and badly promoted it was. Mimoh and Mithun would pronto want to forget all about this bad experience and move on to their next project. A multi starrer would obviously help!

From the past

Last week I had expected MR. WHITE MR. BLACK, another horrendous movie to arrive this year, to take 80% drop in the second week. Well, how much wrong have I been proved! The film in fact took more than 90% drop and with barely 21 lakhs coming in, the film has folded up at a little less than 3 crores. Yet another disaster of 2008, Suneil Shetty and Arshad Warsi would surely ensure that the film never features in their filmographies!

On strictly relative terms, TASHAN saw a reasonably decent third week with a 60% drop. 3 crores more coming in the week gone by meant that TASHAN now stands at 30 crores. The film is now gaining most from the smaller centers and looking at these collections, one can surely say that non-release at multiplexes made a huge dent in the film's final collections. The film could have easily score in 37-40 crores bracket if only the issue would have resolved in the first week itself.

As of now, TASHAN is a failure but at the end of the day not as huge as has been proclaimed. Investors would have lost money but not of the kind which would given them sleepless nights or start thinking twice before picking up a Yash Raj Films project. Yes, they would of course be looking at a multiplex release for sure to ensure a safe beginning!

Meanwhile U ME AUR HUM had a decent fifth week as well and got another 40 lakhs added to it's collections which now reads 23.5 crores. The film should be ending it's run in the vicinity of this total and would overall enjoy an average tag. Though a section of trade is still challenging it's status as being a success, there is no doubt that Ajay Devgan has ensured a respectable beginning to his direction career. Also, the film has many other avenues (home video, satellite etc.) from where it would continue to earn. Same holds good for KRAZZY 4 which stands at 24.5 crores now and is another average success.

On the other hand RACE is doing well even though the film's VCDs have hit the stands. After a 50% drop in it's 8th week and 20 lakhs more coming in, the film is standing at 63.5 crores. Meanwhile SHAURYA and KHUDA KAY LIYE would be completing 50 days at the box office tomorrow.

In the future

This Friday sees three films coming together but none of them appear to be competition enough for the movie in the running - JANNAT. Animation flick GHATOTKACH is for a particular segment of audience - children - while DHOOM DADAKKA and DON MUTHUSWAMI have hardly been promoted enough to create a buzz amongst the audience. Both being comedies, DHOOM DADAKKA may still tickle a few funny bones but DON MUTHUSWAMI looks as tacky as JIMMY (to put it politely), in spite of presence of Mithun Chakarborty. Overall, don't expect miracles from any of the three flicks.