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Aamir's PK nets 205% box office returns

Producers' return on investment over 50% as film crosses Rs 300 crore revenue mark

Urvi Malvania Mumbai
Last Updated : Jan 07 2015 | 12:00 AM IST
Aamir Khan’s PK added Rs 4.42 crore to its box-office collection on Monday to take its total to Rs 309.69 crore. On Sunday, the film raked in Rs 11.58 crore to become the first Bollywood film to exceed Rs 300 crore in domestic box-office collection.

While the record is impressive, what makes Rajkumar Hirani’s fourth directorial outing more special is that it is the third most profitable movie this year.

Co-produced by director Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra in association with Disney’s UTV Motion Pictures, the film entailed making and promoting costs of around Rs 100 crore, according to trade estimates. PK has already made a profit close to Rs 110 crore through its box-office revenue after deducting entertainment tax.

The box-office return on investment for the film stands at 205 per cent, making it the third most profitable movie investment in 2014. The highest return during the year was in the Priyanka Chopra-starrer Mary Kom (255 per cent) followed by Balaji Motion Pictures’ Ek Villain (211 per cent).

“We as a studio have always taken pride in our ability to create, back and collaborate with the best. We are glad viewers across the world have embraced our film in the way they have,” said Amrita Pandey, vice-president and head of marketing and distribution (studios), Disney India.

“PK is now the highest grossing Hindi film ever in India, North America, Australia and many other countries. Most importantly, the film shows no signs of letting up, with cinemas registering high occupancy rates well into the third week of release,” she added. Suniel Wadhwa, an independent distributor and box-office analyst, said, “The movie itself is what has kept it consistently making big numbers day after day for three weekends straight. Not many movies have ever had such strong word-of-mouth.”

By an industry standard of 46 per cent of net box-office revenue, the producers of PK would already have collected Rs 143 crore. After deducting the cost of the film, the makers would have made Rs 43 crore. Additionally, the film has earned around Rs 10 crore in music and other ancillary revenues apart from satellite fees, taking the producers’ total profit to Rs 53 crore.

Considering the movie was mounted on a big scale with extensive marketing and promotion costs, the return is among the best for movies with costs exceeding Rs 75 crore.

UTV Motion Pictures has two of the top five movies in of box-office profitability with Kick earning a return of 130 per cent. Shaaminder Malik, an independent trade analyst and exhibitor for north India, said, “Not only has PK been appreciated for its content, it has made sure everyone earns and makes profits in a volatile market.”

The film’s collection abroad stood at Rs 145 crore on Sunday, so the producers have made another Rs 70-72 crore from the international run. This takes PK’s global box-office profitability to 355 per cent and the return on investment for the producers to 115 per cent.

The film has shot ahead of its peers by a huge margin, with the closest competitor Kick’s global box-office return of 200 per cent and producer return of 41 per cent. PK is yet to make money from the sale of satellite rights. In case of movies like Bang Bang and Happy New Year, satellite rights boosted overall return on investment since these were sold for Rs 50-55 crore.

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First Published: Jan 07 2015 | 12:00 AM IST

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