First weekend performance of latest release

As is pretty obvious after the first weekend gone by, HASTEY HASTEY has bombed badly at the box office and doesn't have anything working in it's favor to show an improvement. Everything about it was poor - it's opening, subsequent reviews, word of mouth and post release buzz. And to think of it, this was one of the better promoted films of Jimmy Sheirgill who came up with a decent act but still couldn't see it translating into box office success. As of now, it seems highly doubtful that HASTEY HASTEY would see a second week running, especially with SARKAR RAJ attacking the box office in a big way in the coming weekend.

On the other hand WOODSTOCK VILLA still has some hope, faint though, with decent reviews and word of mouth helping it's cause. The opening was poor in this case as well but the thriller has been liked by those who have seen it while Sikandar too has got decent appreciation. Even though IPL did eat away the entire first weekend of the film, WOODSTOCK VILLA may just about manage to gain some face saving collections if exhibitors show faith in this Hansal Mehta directed film and retain it for another fortnight to come.

Last week's movies

Surprise surprise. In this column last week, I was wondering whether combined collections of DHOOM DADAKKA and DON MUTHUSWAMI would manage to cross 1 crore? Well, it has indeed happened with the collections going a little above 1.25 crores! Of course, this is still a disastrous fate for the two films about which no one apart from the investors would actually care.

While DHOOM DADAKKA collected a little less than 1 crore, DON MUTHUSWAMI is yet another huge disaster of the year with only 30 lakhs coming in. Let's not even invest time in finding the reasons for the failure of the two films. It may have been worthwhile to do an analysis if any of the two films would have taken a decent opening but a pathetic state of affairs here hardly comes as a surprise! Third release of the week gone by, animation flick GHATOTHKACH, is also a failure at the box office with only 70 lakhs coming in it's opening weekend. All in all, a very poor ending to the month of May.

From the past

All those who were thinking that JANNAT was a media hyped success can hide in a corner! After a very good first week which proved that an excellent opening weekend wasn't quite just a flash in the pan, the film did very well in the second week as well.

Overwhelming opening of the film had prompted Bhatts to increase the number of prints in the second week at number of territories. This paid dividends for the investors as the film fell by only around 35-40%, hence bringing the film's collection close to 25 crores in two weeks flat. In Mumbai the film collected another 1.5 crores while Delhi topped 1 crore as well.

Sustained collections like these have managed to bring this medium budget film straight away into the SUPERHIT category. Though for Bhatts and Emraan Hashmi, this worked as a shot in the arm, the film's heartening performance has also made Kunal Deshmukh a director to reckon with who has now joined the accomplished list of Bhatt protégées like Anubhav Sinha and Mohit Suri. Bhatts, Hashmi and composer Pritam would now be having their next release as RAAZ 2 for which shooting is currently on in full swing.

BHOOTNATH has managed to stay on decently after a shaky start and is now an average success. With a 50% fall and 3 crores more coming in, the film isn't really bad at 23 crores. Mumbai fetched another 70 lakhs for the film though Delhi was on the lower side at 35 lakhs. Looking at a 25 crore milestone, BHOOTHNATH is now the second successive solo success for Amitabh Bachchan in two years after CHEENI KUM (2007).

In the week when VCDs of TASHAN hit the stands, the film collected further 35 lakhs to enable the film cross the 31 crore mark. While the film is in it's dying stages, everybody associated with it has moved on. Kareena is making news for MAIN AUR MRS. KHANNA, Saif is busy talking about THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC and his under-production film with Imtiaz Ali while Akshay Kumar is in news for SINGH IS KINNG!

In the future

Barring JANNAT and to an extent BHOOTHNATH, it has been a period of drought at the box office. However, the summer should finally heat up in a big way with SARKAR RAJ which is carrying excellent reports. In addition, the film has started taking good advance booking as well, hence promising a huge comeback for Ram Gopal Varma. The film should taken nothing less than a 70-80% opening over the first weekend.

Second notable release of the week of AAMIR which marks the debut of TV actor Rajeev Khandelwal on the big screen. A film for the niche audience, it is seeing a controlled release and though one can't expect an opening per se for the film, it should do well if the exhibitors show the kind of trust they had in KHUDA KAY LIYE. Third release of the week, HUMSEY HAI JAHAAN, is a non-starter and doesn't look like surviving beyond a week.