Box Office – Pathetic Time For Bollywood As Theaters Run At Less Than 10% Occupancy

There are around 5000 major screens where Bollywood films run and that leads to a threshold occupancy of roughly 50 crore. A three days weekend means there is a capacity of 150 crore. However, with less than 15 crore being generated at the Box Office right through the weekend, it is a pathetic scenario for Bollywood where not even 10% average occupancy is being evidenced.

Very disappointing, but definitely true! The only film to see some sort of collections was M.S. Dhoni – The Untold Story and the film brought in 6 crore*. The film’s collections so far stand at 127.5 crore*.

However between rest of the films, namely Saat Uchakkey, Beiimaan Love, Fuddu, Anna and Motu Patlu – King of Kings, only 5-6 crore more came in, which tells the tale! Now this is terrible indeed and yet again showcases how a lean period leads to further disarray when none of the new releases ends up making any impact whatsoever.

In fact during this time period it was expected that Mirzya would enjoy its three week uninhibited run. However, that has turned out to be an anti-climax too with the film not even in the running in the second week. At around 10 crore*, its disastrous run is fast coming to a close.

The scenario is only going to get worse till 27th October and post that audiences would be back in theaters all over again, what with Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shivaay arriving in screens this Diwali.

*Estimates. Final numbers awaited

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources

Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder