M.S. Dhoni – The Untold Story has done the unthinkable. It has managed to become the 10th highest grosser of 2016 in just 3 days. For a film about which there was no clear opinion on which way it would be headed till around a month back, it is remarkable to see the kind of big money spinner it has turned out to be.
With 66 crore (All versions) coming in over the weekend, the Sushant Singh Rajput starrer is now amongst the best of the best when it comes to the lifetime collections of several other movies that have released in 2016.
This is how the *lifetime* collections stand for other prominent Hindi releases in 2016:
Sultan – 301.5 crore
Airlift – 129 crore
Rustom – 128 crore
Housefull 3 – 109 crore
Fan – 85 crore
Baaghi – 77 crore
Neerja – 75.65 crore
Kapoor & Sons – 73.3 crore
Dishoom – 70 crore
M.S. Dhoni – The Untold Story – 66 crore (3 days)
Pink – 61 crore* (still running)
Udta Punjab – 59.60 crore
Mohenjo Daro –57.82 crore
It is now also a given that the Neeraj Pandey directed film would cross Housefull 3 eventually to be the fourth highest grosser of 2016. All that the film needs to do is maintain a stable strike rate right through the weekdays so that it can comfortably challenge Rustom and Airlift as well, and eventually become the second highest grosser of the year. For now, it looks possible and if the film manages to cross 10 crore today, a bigger feat for the film would be definitely on the cards.
For Fox, the film has turned out to be a jackpot affair and they deserve good credit for pitching the film excellently by leveraging Brand Dhoni for a major part of their promotional campaign. They knew where the USP of the film lied and with Dhoni’s super stardom across the country which obsesses over cricket, the decision to lend a massive release across 5000 odd screens has paid off as well.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder