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Exclusive report by Koimoi.com Editor Komal Nahta on the box-office fate of Aamir Khan’s Delhi Belly and Amitabh Bachchan’s Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap. Plus the box-office collections and analysis of Transformers, Double Dhamaal and Ready.
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Aamir Khan’s comedy film, Delhi Belly, abounding in obscenities, cuss words and bold scenes, has done remarkable business not just in India but abroad too. In spite of the more orthodox and conservative audience not approving of the language and the ‘scandalising’ scenes in the film, both the versions – Hinglish and dubbed Hindi – have recorded extraordinary numbers. The weekend net collection of approximately Rs. 23 crore was in itself a magical figure considering that it was a 95-minute film with just an Imran Khan as the saleable name (Aamir Khan can’t be considered as a hero because the audience was aware that his was a special appearance in the film). No doubt, Aamir Khan’s banner also contributed to the wonderful initial but one must not forget that Aamir had himself cautioned the people about the use of four-letter words in the film, virtually amounting to asking the public to use their sense of judgement before coming to the cinemas to watch the film.
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There was a day-wise upward movement in collections in the weekend with Friday, Saturday and Sunday recording Rs. 6.25 crore, Rs. 7.5 crore and Rs. 9 crore net collections. The collections did not come crashing down on Monday or even Tuesday, as is the norm nowadays. Monday (4 July) ended at Rs. 4.75 crore and Tuesday’s total of Rs. 4.25 crore conclusively proved that the film had been accepted in a major way by the youth. Like there was a drop of only Rs. 50 lakh from Monday to Tuesday, the fall from Tuesday to Wednesday was also just half a crore. So, Wednesday’s Rs. 3.75 crore made the six-day total swell to Rs. 35.5 crore. With the last day of the week recording Rs. 2.5 crore, the film did a week of Rs. 38 crore which is phenomenal.
With approximately $1,00,000 from rest of the Overseas territories, a weekend gross of nearly $15,00,000 is no mean achievement.
In the US and Australia, Delhi Belly had the best opening weekend this year so far. Yes, better than even Ready and Yamla Pagla Deewana. The gross in the first weekend in the US was US $6,00,000. In UK, the film performed well in spite of a ‘15’ certificate. It grossed £1,56,000 or, in other words, $2,50,000. In Gulf and Australia, the comedy grossed $4,00,000 and $1,50,000 respectively. With approximately $1,00,000 from rest of the Overseas territories, a weekend gross of nearly $15,00,000 is no mean achievement. Converted into Indian rupees, we are talking of a weekend gross Overseas of Rs. 6 crore! The heartening part is that the film is being repeated by the youngsters. While there are sections among the audience which are repeating the same version, there are other sections which are watching the Hindi dubbed version after the original Hinglish version and vice versa.
Slowly but surely, Delhi Belly is on its way to becoming a sort of a cult film for the youth because it speaks the language they speak.
Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap could not win the appreciation of the audience except the loyal Amitabh Bachchan fans. While the hardcore fans didn’t mind the absence of a great script, the others overlooked the fine performance of Bachchan because of the absence of a decent script. Actually, the unimpressive trailers of the film did it in because it started slow with a net of just Rs. 1.75 crore on the opening day. Collections picked up on Saturday and Sunday for the weekend to close at around Rs. 6.5 to 7 crore. From Monday onwards, it was the downward trend so that it barely managed to cross Rs. 1 crore on Monday and touch that figure on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday could not even accomplish the crore mark so that the week closed at roughly Rs. 11.5 crore only, which is, sometimes, the first day’s net collection of a big film or, at the most, the total for the first two days. The biggest plus point, if one may use the term, for BHTB is that it was made at a controlled budget of around Rs. 13 to 15 crore. The other plus for the film is that it managed to recover a little less than its cost of production from sale of satellite rights. So, effectively, the producers – AB Corp and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures – have to recover a couple of crores more than the cost of promotion, marketing and release, from the theatrical business.
The biggest plus point for BHTB is that it was made at a controlled budget of around Rs. 13 to 15 crore.
But since they spent heavily on promotion and are continuing to do so even now, this means an investment of around Rs. 10 to 13 crore is to be recovered from theatrical business. This seems to be a difficult proposition, considering that the first weekend and week’s figures are discouraging. Since the downward slide began on Monday, it seems an impossibility that the trend will reverse in the second week.
Click next for TRANSFORMERS 3 & DOUBLE DHAMAAL Box-office
Transformers: Chand Ka Andhera (dubbed) has performed quite well. It was off to a flying start everywhere as it opened before Delhi Belly and Bbuddah…. The collections on Wednesday and Thursday were excellent for both, the original English (Transformers: Dark Of The Moon) and the dubbed Hindi versions. But once Delhi Belly and Bbuddah came, the Hollywood film started sliding downwards. Nevertheless, it has yielded excellent shares in the first week. If all the three dubbed versions (Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) are considered alongwith the original English version, the third in the Transformers series netted Rs. 17 crore in the nine-day week. At places, the week was of nine-and-a-half days as there were paid previews on Tuesday.
Double Dhamaal slid quite a lot in the second week. Actually, a noticeable drop had started after the first weekend itself, giving an indication of what was in store for the Dhamaal sequel in week 2. As against Rs. 36.6 crore in the first week, the film netted only Rs. 7.2 crore in the 2nd week – that is, a drop of almost 80%! Of the Rs. 36.6 crore in the first week, the weekend alone accounted for Rs. 25.6 crore. While Reliance Entertainment will not lose in the comedy sequel, the distributors to whom it sold the rights of some of the circuits, will stand to make a loss of about 20% of their investment. This includes the distributors of C.P. Berar, C.I., Rajasthan, Nizam etc. The territories where the film is behaving better are, by a stroke of good luck being exploited by Reliance itself.
As against Rs. 36.6 crore in the first week, Double Dhamaal took a drop of almost 80% in week 2.
Another sequel, Bheja Fry 2, behaved much the same way as Double Dhamaal. It recorded good collections on the first three days but slumped noticeably thereafter. In its third week, it is, obviously, on its way out.
Anurag Kashyap’s Shaitan has won more critical acclaim than monetary rewards. Although the film was made in a limited budget, it will not be able to recover even that limited investment. In its 4th week, it has managed to remain afloat only in a select few multiplexes, that too, during the weekends.
Salman Khan’s Ready has netted approximately Rs. 120 crore in five weeks. The trade scoffed at Ponty Chadha when he acquired its worldwide theatrical rights for Rs. 54-55 crore. But with the collections being what they are in India as well as Overseas, it is Chadha who is having the last laugh and also laughing all the way to the bank. Of course, the film seems to have exhausted its run now, thanks in no small measure to the opposition of some exciting films like Delhi Belly and Murder 2. Frankly, very few films can pull through for more than 5 or 6 weeks in today’s times of over-saturated release strategies.
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