<i>Piku</i> sees massive first weekend, finishes with Rs 25.4 cr

Strong performances and witty script resulted in positive reviews and word of mouth

Shoojit Sircar’s Piku has grown its box office collection in its first weekend by almost 300 per cent from its opening day. Released on May 8, the movie stars Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan in lead roles. It had collected Rs 5.5 crore on its launch day.

Strong performances and a witty script resulted in positive reviews and word of mouth, which contributed to the steep rise in collection over the next two days.It made Rs 8.7 crore on Saturday and Rs 11.2 crore on Sunday, taking the opening weekend haul to Rs 25.4 crore.

 

Sneha Rajani, deputy president at MSM Motion Pictures, commented: “Piku has shown yet again that content is the king. We are mighty pleased by its success worldwide, which we hope will continue in the weeks to come.”

It was released in 1,300 screens and after the encouraging occupancy in the later shows on Friday, many multiplexes increased the number of shows on the following days, anticipating the demand. Sure enough, viewers faced a scramble in getting weekend tickets across multiplexes in the country.

“It is very unlikely that a film taking a Rs 5 crore net on opening day ends up doing Rs 11 crore net on Sunday. This means the audience has given it a thumbs-up, with strong word of mouth” says Suniel Wadhwa, independent distributor and box office analyst.

At an approximate collection of $2.3 million (Rs 14.7 crore) at box offices abroad, Piku has been the most successful export this year.

Piku released in 200 screens abroad, across America, Britain, Australia and West  Asia/North Africa.

This also takes the film’s overall revenue (including ancillary streams) to Rs 55.1 crore against a cost of Rs 32 crore. The film has sold satellite rights to Multi Screen Media (MSM) for an estimated Rs 12 crore and music rights have been sold for Rs 3 crore. Additionally, the film has struck brand association deals (for special campaigns or in-film placement) of roughly Rs 20 crore in publicity and cash flow (around Rs 5 crore in revenue and the rest in publicity).

Trade pundits have now revised their prediction for Piku's first week. The unanimous opinion is that the film is set to net Rs 42 to 45 crore by the end of week one.

The film is co-produced by MSM Motion Pictures, Saraswati Films and Rising Sun Films, and is distributed worldwide by Yash Raj Films.
RAKING IN THE MOOLAH

• Cost  Rs 32 cr
• Screens in India: 1,300
• Screens abroad: 200
• First day collection in India: Rs 5.5 cr
• First weekend collections in India: Rs 25.4 cr
• First weekend collections abroad: Rs 14.7 cr
• Revenue from music rights sale: Rs 3 cr
• Revenue from brand associations: Rs 20 cr (tangible and intangible)

Source: Industry