First weekend performance of latest release

As predicted, HEROES took a more than decent start at the box office (overall 50% +) which is heartening considering the fact that the film was delayed by almost a year. A well made film, it has quite a few striking moments which keep the emotional quotient intact. However, good reviews and overall positive word of mouth didn't quite show a kind of jump that would make it's investors to begin celebrations. Since the film has mainly 5 days for itself with GOLMAAL RETURNS and FASHION seeing a Wednesday release, it is still a shaky situation for HEROES that has Preity Zinta coming up with one of her career best performances ever.

ROADSIDE ROMEO hasn't found any takers. Though it seemed that YRF may eventually have a decent film to their name when it comes to box office returns, that hasn't turned out to be the case with extremely low collections being witnessed across the country. The film has met with decent reviews but audience just isn't in mood to go for this animation flick which technically is the best ever from an Indian production house. Expect the film to find a very quick release on DVDs to cater to it's target segment - children!

Last week's movies

KARZZZZ hasn't worked at the box office. Though it's opening was decent, it didn't stay beyond the weekend and the weekdays further saw the collections coming down. Result is that in spite of a very heavy print count, the first week collections are just a shade over 10.5 crores. Now in isolation, these collections are not bad considering Himesh Reshammiya is just two films old and 10.5 crores is better than the initial that AAP KAA SURROOR had taken. However, the presenters went overboard in their calculations due to which the print average is on a lower end. The film collected 1.5 crores from Mumbai and around 80 lakhs from Delhi.

Himesh is still expected to remain super-busy and leave KARZZZZ behind considering his KAJRA RE is arriving in February 2009. Meanwhile KARZZZZ would be looking at avenues like DVD sales and satellite rights to fill in the gaps created by the underperformance of the film at theaters.

SHOOT ON SIGHT has disappeared before it could even be sighted. With just 30 lakhs coming from the first week and absolutely no word of mouth, the film would be seeing a quick DVD release. While Mumbai read a little over 6 lakhs, Delhi was close to 7 lakhs. One single reason for the horrific performance of the movie? Pathetic promotion. Seriously, in today's time even a C-Grade film is pitched in the market than SHOOT ON SIGHT. Sad!

From the past

In last week's column I had mentioned that HELLO has managed to sail through. Well, this is where the buck stops for this Atul Agnihotri movie that seems to have almost wrapped-up in it's second week. With ~80% fall and merely 2.25 crores coming in, the film currently stands at 12.25 crores. A coverage film which would actually be feeling lucky to have got that box office tag for itself at the least, HELLO collected 23 lakhs from Mumbai and ~14 lakhs from Delhi. Yet another movie that would just have a fortnight more to enjoy at theaters and would see a quick DVD release soon.

KIDNAP is nearing it's end of run at theaters. After a 80% fall in it's third week, the film collected a mere 65 lakhs to bring it's total to 24 crores. This is not even 50% of what JAANE TU YA JAANE NAA earned and for Imran Khan, it's a crash course on how an unpredictable box office operates. Also, Ranbir Kapoor may be breathing easy considering he had a far more successful BACHNA AE HASEENO just a few weeks away!

Abhishek Bachchan (DOSTANA) and Priyanka Chopra (FASHION, DOSTANA) have quickly moved on to their next projects after the debacle of DRONA which further fell by 90% and got a paltry 9 lakhs added to it's total. At 11 crores, the film is a mega disaster which further makes the new projects of it's lead actors even more important. It would be interesting to see how are the DVDs of the film received by that segment of the audience which hasn't seen the film so far!

ROCK ON continues to rock at select theaters with a mere 30% drop in it's 8th week. With close to 20 lakhs more coming in, the film is nearing 27 crores mark now. Meanwhile A WEDNESDAY continues to stay amongst the Top-5 choices of the audience. It saw it's biggest fall till date though, 45%, in the week gone by but 35 lakhs more coming in meant that the film crosses 11.5 crores mark. The film has been made Tax-Free in some parts of the country and 12 crores is the milestone that A WEDNESDAY should comfortably manage to clear.

In the future

Both GOLMAAL RETURNS and FASHION saw a mid-week release on Wednesday. Both films are quite safe in nature and the initial reports indicate that GOLMAAL RETURNS has taken a very good start (as expected) at the box office. Though reports continue to trickle in and final picture would be known in a couple of days time, no one is hating the movie which means that this should easily manage a 25 crores first week total.

As for FASHION, as expected the film has been hailed for it's theme and execution. This Bhandarkar film was always meant to open on a decent note at the box office and grow as the shows progress. This seems to be the case, as the initial reports indicate. FASHION should easily earn in it's first week what Bhandarkar's biggest grosser CORPORATE (14 crores) till date earned in it's entire run.