Diwali failed to light up fortunes in the Hindi film industry, with movies like Action Replay and Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision’s production, Golmaal 3, not really lighting a fire in the screens. About Rs 100 crore were riding on these films but in the three-day Diwali weekend, they have been able to rustle box office collections of only Rs 47 crore, far below expectations.
That is the kind of money Rajneeti achieved in just three days of its launch this year. And Dabangg, the box office collection’s biggest hit of the year, rustled up weekend collections of a staggering Rs 48 crore.
With the Diwali box office collections which everyone was hoping would pull out the industry from a lacklustre year not happening at all,the industry has lost Rs 200-250 crore and these numbers will swell.
Film trade analyst Komal Nahata says, “In the first 10 months of the year, Bollywood has accumulated losses to the tune of Rs 250 crore. Big budget movies such as Hrithik Roshan-starrer Kites and Abhishek Bachchan’s Raavan did not do well with audiences. Films have not done good business because of the poor content on offer and that is reflected in the Diwali period. Diwali has been a mixed bag. While Golmaal 3 might recover costs, it seems Action Replay will lose heavily in the coming weeks.”
According to exhibition companies, while Golmaal 3 clocked occupancies of 60-65 per cent over the weekend, Action Replay could gain only 30-35 per cent in the first three days.
According to data with BoxOffice India, Action Replay made a meagre Rs 15 crore in net collections in the first three days of launch. Industry experts inform the film had been made on a budget of over Rs 40 crore. An additional Rs 7-8 crore had been spent on marketing and promotional initiatives. “The numbers are not promising. Since the film opened in the festive week, it should have packed in over Rs 25 crore in the weekend. The performance has been much below expectations,” said Taran Adarsh, film trade analyst. Golmaal 3 on the other hand, raked in around Rs 32 crore over the weekend. The movie was made for around Rs 40 crore and another Rs 8 crore was spent in marketing and most experts are hopeful that it will recover its money and make some profits. But it will not be a super hit.
But the relief is that this Diwali has been better than last year , when there were more movies (three) released during this period but they went under. And most of the movies were more expensive “This Diwali has been comparatively better than last year. The amount of money at stake this year was half of what was spent on productions last Diwali,” added Taran Adarsh.
Industry insiders are, however, optimistic of the content line-up in the second half. The Hrithik-Roshan-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer, Guzarish, Break Ke Baad and Tees Maar Khan are lined up for release in the coming months. They may change the trend.
