Bollywood is fully geared to sizzle the screens with a bouquet of big-budget movies. Around Rs 600-700 crore is riding on these movies, slated for release in the next three months, according to industry officials.
The first biggie to release, Rowdy Rathore of Akshay Kumar, collected Rs 15.10 crore on its first-day , making it the third-biggest opener of all time, after Hrithik Roshan-starrer Agneepath (Rs 25 crore) and Salman Khan’s Bodyguard (Rs 21 crore). The movie, directed by Prabhu Deva and distributed by UTV Motion Pictures, also stars Sonakshi Sinha and is a remake of Telugu movie Vikramarkudu.
“There are more than 20 -25 movies to be released in the next three months,” said Suniel Wadhwa, an independent film distributor.
The big production houses such as Yash Raj Films, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, UTV Motion Pictures, Eros International, Reliance Big Pictures and Vinod Chopra Films are all pinning their hopes on these releases.
Rowdy Rathore will be followed by PVR Pictures’ political thriller Shanghai (June 8) , directed by Dibakar Banerjee of Khosla ka Ghosla fame and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Ferarri ki Sawari (June 15 ), starring Sharman Joshi. This will be Chopra’s first movie after the release of 3 Idiots in 2009.
The other key release the industry is looking forward to is Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Anurag Kashyap’s crime caper Gangs of Wasseypur. Slated to release on June 22, it has already started getting rave reviews in film festival circuits like Cannes. The movie clashes with Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra -starrer Teri Meri Kahani.
The month of July has Rohit Shetty and Fox Star Studios’ Bol Bachchan (July 6), a remake of 1979 comedy film Gol Maal, Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone’s Cocktail (July 13) and David Dhawan-directed Chasme Bhaddoor remake (August 31), which is being released by Viacom18 Motion Pictures.
This is being followed by Salman Khan-starrer Ek Tha Tiger. This is the actor’s first movie with Yash raj films. The movie is slated to release on August 15.
Other films due for release are Fox Star Studio’s Raaz 3 (September 7), Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine (September 14), Dharma Production’s Student of the Year (October 19) , Reliance BIG Pictures’ Talaash, starring Aamir Khan (November 30), Yash Chopra’s untitled movie starring Shah Rukh Khan and a sequel of Salman Khan’s Dabangg.
Apart from this, the Bollywood biggies might have to face some tough competition from Hollywood studios, gearing for an action-packed summer. “The Hollywood line-up also looks exciting with The Amazing Spiderman, Dark Knight Rises and sequels of popular animated movies like Madagascar and Ice Age, said a multiplex official
The only detrimental point is that big films will clash and eat into one another’s business, believes the industry official.
So far, the first half of 2012 has been positive for the industry, with Agneepath and Housefull crossing the Rs 100-crore club and sleeper hits like Vidya Balan-starring Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar and Ishaqzade dominating at the box office.
