It’s bonanza time at the box office. In the past two months, two movies have crossed the Rs 100-crore mark collections and over five movies became huge huts.
According to film trade analysts, the last two months have seen investments of around Rs 380 crore, and collections from these movies have crossed Rs 510 crore. Even Hollywood flicks like The Amazing Spiderman, The Dark Knight Rises and Ice Age 4:The Continental Drift, as well as regional movies like Eega and Gabbar Singh in Telugu, Jatt and Juliet in Punjabi and Billa 2 (Tamil) have kept cash counters buzzing.
“It has been a good period not just for Bollywood films but also for Hollywood. With Ek Tha Tiger off to a humongous start, the run will continue,” said Ashish Saksena, COO, Big Cinemas, West and South.
Ek Tha Tiger collected Rs 32.92 crore (3,300 screens) on its opening day, creating a new milestone for Indian cinema. However, there has been a drop of around 50-60 per cent with Thursday being a working day. “The drop was expected. This trend was seen in Agneepath released earlier this year. The advance bookings for Saturday, Sunday and Monday look strong,” said Suniel Wadhwa, an independent film distributor.
“This has been a tremendous period for Bollywood, with these continuous hits. This trend is going to continue, as more movies are in the pipeline,” said Vikram Malhotra COO Viacom18 Motion Pictures, which released Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur. The second part of the movie had collected around Rs 18 crore till Wednesday, while the first part netted around Rs 29 crore. Reportedly, both the movies were made at a budget of Rs 18 crore, and the promotions and marketing budget of around Rs 12 crore.
Produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Ronnie Screwvala, Rowdy Rathore (remake of Telugu movie Vikramarkudu), starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha, collected Rs 134 crore. Bol Bachchan (July 4), distributed by Fox Star Studios, had garnered Rs 102 crore so far.
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Saif Ali Khan’s Cocktail has grossed Rs 75 crore, while Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Ferrari ki Sawari collected Rs 32 crore.
The Sharman Joshi starrer managed to recover the money through non-theatrical avenues, with the satellite rights fetching the producers Rs 10-12 crore.
Spiderman and The Dark Knight Rises have so far collected Rs 50 crore and Rs 40 crore, respectively. Both movies were released with 1,000 prints and released in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
“Going ahead, there is a strong line-up of movies, with all of them being of diverse genres. Around Rs 350 crore to Rs 400 crore is riding on these,” said Taran Adarsh, film trade analyst.
| BRISK BUSINESS | ||||
| Production/ Distributor | Release date | Actors | Budget | Box office |
| ROWDY RATHORE | ||||
| Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ronnie Screwvala | June 1 | Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha | Rs 75 cr | Rs 134cr |
| BOL BACHCHAN | ||||
| Rohit Shetty/Fox Star Studios | July 6 | Abhishek Bachchan, Ajay Devgn | Rs 88 cr | Rs 102 cr |
| COCKTAIL | ||||
| Illumaniti Films/ Eros | July 13 | Saif Ali Khan Deepika Padukone | Rs 43 cr | Rs 75 cr |
| GANGS OF WASSEYPUR (PART I&II) | ||||
| Anurag Kashyap/ Viacom18 Motion Pictures | June 29, Aug 8 | Manoj Bajpai, Richa Chaddha | Rs 28 cr | Rs 48 cr |
| KYA SUPER KOOL HAIN HUM | ||||
| Ekta Kapoor | July 27 | Ritesh Deshmukh, Tusshar Kapoor | Rs 15 cr | Rs 47 cr |
| JISM 2 | ||||
| Pooja Bhatt | Aug 3 | Sunny Leone, Randeep Hooda | Rs 14 cr | Rs 24.5 cr |
| Source:Industry | ||||
The films that the trade is looking forward to is Barfii, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra ( September 14); Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine (September 21); Sridevi comeback film English Vinglish (October 5); Dharma Productions’ Student of the Year (October 19); Yash Chopra’s untitled movie starring Shah Rukh Khan; and Son of Sardar, starring Ajay Devgn on November 13 (Diwali release); Reliance BIG Pictures’ Talaash, starring Aamir Khan (November 30), and a sequel to Salman Khan’s Dabangg (December 21).
2012 has so far has been a good run, with Agneepath and Housefull crossing the Rs 100-crore club and sleeper hits like Vidya Balan starrer Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar and Ishaqzade dominating at the box office.