‘Thank You’ disappoints at BO

Akshay-Anees Bazmee's third film has failed to set the box-office on fire.

The Akshay Kumar – Anees Bazmee combo have had a glorious past. ‘Welcome’ was a humungous hit,while ‘Singh is Kinng’ is this combo’s biggest grosser ever. This film catapulted Akshay to superstardom,bringing him to the top of actors’ heirarchy that year. ‘Thank You’ however,which is the the third film by the duo,hasn’t set the box-office ablaze.

There are several theories around on why did the Akshay Kumar starrer film failed to crack the box office. Some suggest that UTV didn’t promote the film to the optimum. Others claim that Akshay’s past failures made a sizable section stay away from this film. The beginning of the IPL season may have also made a dent. A few also claim that Anna Hazare was to blame as his anti-corruption drive,which hit headlines and had the entire nation standing beside him,stole the limelight from ‘Thank You’!

A film can withstand any opposition,provided it is rich in merits. ‘Thank You’,however,stood on a weak foundation [script,which explains why the numbers didn’t rise dramatically over the weekend. In fact,ideally,a biggie like ‘Thank You’ should have collected at least Rs 25 crores+ in its opening weekend — Rs 8 crores on Friday,Rs 9 crores on Saturday and Rs 8 crores on Sunday. Many speculate that considering this combo’s past achievements,it should have been Rs 30 crores+ in its first three days. But,the opening weekend numbers weren’t that exciting,faring slightly better than Akshay’s last release,’Patiala House’.

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The business of ‘Thank You’ was divided on Day 1 itself. The film didn’t open well at multiplexes,while single screens opened much better,with the business showing an upward trend in several circuits as the day progressed. The business picked up marginally on Saturday,while Sunday showed an upswing again. However,the opening weekend business,frankly speaking,was way below the mark,given the budget of the film as also keeping in mind the screen count and the number of shows.

Recently,Bombay High Court had declined to grant interim relief to Feroz Khan (FK) Films on the copyright row over the song ‘Pyaar Do Pyaar Lo’ used by UTV in the film. Justice D Y Chandrachud,who gave the verdict on the case had said,”There has been a gross and unexplained delay by FK Films in filing the suit. Interim injunction cannot be given at this stage. The movie is slated for release on Friday and the producers have already spent Rs 60 crores on the making of the film”. This statement quells all rumors about the cost of the film.

UTV had sold a few territories prior to the release of the film,which means they have recovered a chunk of the investment [Rs 15 crores from pre-sales. The question is,will the distributors,who have acquired the film for a hefty amount,recover their investment? Or will they lose part of their investment?

In the overseas arena,’Thank You’ has emerged one of the biggest disappointments. Here,again there were high expectations from the Akshay-Anees Bazmee combo,considering that both ‘Welcome’ and ‘Thank You’ had reaped a harvest overseas.

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In UK,’Thank You’ is Akshay’s second lowest opening film. It is slightly better than ‘Action Replayy’,but lower than all his other films. It collected £ 1,59,161 [approx. Rs. 1.15 crores on 54 screens,with the per screen average working out to £ 2,947.

In USA,it is the lowest ever opening film from the actor,worse than ‘Action Replayy’ and ‘Khatta Meetha’. It has collected $ 2,47,760 [approx. Rs. 1.09 crores on 92 screens,with the per screen average working out to $ 2,693.

Still,the film can earn some moolah this week. It faces no major opposition (with the only release this week being Teen Thay Bhai),so it can hope to collect some revenue from single screens.

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