Whether he is a zany cop as Chulbhul Pandey or a bodyguard by the name of Lovely Singh or an Indian spy on a mission, Salman Khan’s magic seems to work every time. Yash Raj Films’ new release Ek Tha Tiger has got a hurricane-like start on Wednesday, clocking Rs 32-35 crore on its opening day, according to film trade analysts and multiplex executives.
“This is the highest initial box-office collection for any movie in the country. All shows have registered 95-100 per cent occupancy,” said Suniel Wadhwa, independent film distributor.
So far, leading the pack was Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One (Diwali 2011), which earned around Rs 23 crore on a single day, followed by Agneepath, starring Hrithik Roshan, with Rs 22 crore (January 2012) and Salman Khan’s Bodyguard (August 2011) with Rs 21.87 crore
“Multiplexes and single screens have never seen this kind of crowd before. This is hysteria at its peak,” said Komal Nahata, film trade analyst.
Featuring Salman Khan as an Indian spy alongside Katrina Kaif in the movie, Ek Tha Tiger is the widest release of all time across 3,900 screens worldwide, including 600 screens abroad.
In addition, the movie has the advantage of a long weekend. Instead of a traditional Friday, the movie releases on Wednesday and has the benefit of an Eid holiday, which falls on Monday. Most multiplexes have increased the prices of tickets by 20-25 per cent and allotted 80 per cent of the shows to Ek Tha Tiger.
“Ek Tha Tiger is a shorter film compared to others, and, therefore, cinema halls could offer more number of shows over the weekend. We are trying to squeeze in 18-20 shows a day,” said Ashish Saksena, COO, Big Cinemas.
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For Salman, the dream run at the box office continues. In the last three years, Salman has given four hits, with three of them making over ~100 crore. For Ek Tha Tiger, he reportedly asked for a fee of ~25 crore and got into a profit sharing deal with YRF.
Previous blockbusters of Salman Khan like Wanted (2009), Dabangg (2010) and Bodyguard (2011) have all been Eid releases. Produced by BSK Network and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Wanted collected Rs 61 crore, Dabangg made Rs 140 crore, while Reliance