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Exclusive report by Koimoi.com Editor Komal Nahta on the box-office fate of Salman Khan’s Chillar Party and Emraan Hashmi-starrer Murder 2. Plus the box-office collections and analysis of Delhi Belly, Bbuddah Hoga Terra BaapTransformers and Ready.
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Murder 2 has taken the industry by surprise. It has performed as excellently in multiplexes as in single-screen cinemas; and has fetched as impressive numbers in ‘A’ class centres as in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres. Its opening weekend’s net collection of Rs. 22.5 crore was absolutely fantastic, considering that the film was neither a big-budget fare nor did it star any of the three hot Khans. The film added Rs. 14 crore in the last four days of the first week to take its total at the end of week 1 to Rs. 36.5 crore. Bombay city & suburbs contributed Rs. 2.94 crore whereas Delhi city added Rs. 3.30 crore. Gujarat seemed to have liked the Murder sequel very much because a centre like Ahmedabad gave a net figure of over Rs. 1.23 crore.
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It seems, sequels are the way to move forward. In recent times, at least three sequels have taken lovely initials. Bheja Fry 2 took a start which was better than its merits; Double Dhamaal also recorded excellent collections in the first weekend in spite of a medium star cast. Of course, Murder 2 was not a third as costly as Double Dhamaal, and that’s the best part of the success story of the Murder sequel.
Salman Khan’s sustained promotion and Ranbir Kapoor’s song-dance could not help Chillar Party much. The film took a dismal start last week and it failed to pick up at most of the centres. No doubt, the film will now stand to benefit a bit because of the tax exemption it has obtained but that’s only in Maharashtra. The film may be a low-budget fare but the fact remains, it is a dull fare, too, at the box-office! The producers ought not to have released the children’s film in the week they did because the families and kids were all geared up for Harry Potter, another film for the children (and the grown-ups too), which was scheduled a week later. Had Chillar Party come in a better week – and one without an opposition like Murder 2, it would’ve performed better.
Click next for box-office verdict on Delhi Belly & Bbuddah
Both the versions of Delhi Belly – the original Hinglish and the dubbed Hindi – did well in the second week too. The second weekend of Rs. 10 crore was rather impressive, considering that it is a film only for adults and also considering that Murder 2 in its first week scored pretty well and, therefore, offered Delhi Belly tough competition in the latter’s second week.
Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap was not half as lucky as Delhi Belly. It lost its breath in the second week itself and is more or less counting its days in the cinema halls. In spite of its controlled budget, the film will not be able to recover its cost.
Transformers: Chand Ka Andhera (dubbed) also dropped quite a bit. The English version did better than the dubbed Hindi version in the second week.
Double Dhamaal could not do much in the third week as it had to withstand the oppositions of Murder 2 as well as Delhi Belly. The distributors, who acquired the Dhamaal sequel from Reliance Entertainment for valuable prices, will lose part of their investments because each of them paid a heavy price. Seems, the funny first trailer of Double Dhamaal prompted them to play blind on this one. As for Reliance Entertainment and producers Indra Kumar and Ashok Thakeria, they will sail safe because the territories which they did not sell the distribution rights for, have given them reasonable returns.
Ready is now on its way out of the cinemas after a brilliant innings. The film has, in six weeks, netted around Rs. 130 crore!
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