Hate Story 2 gets a good start at the BO

Humpty Sharma... and Lai Bhaari continue to hold fort

4 min readMumbaiJul 25, 2014 01:00 AM IST

Hate Story 2

Last Friday saw three Hindi film releases, out of which, Hate Story 2 has emerged triumphant. Despite the fact that the film stars newcomers, Surveen Chawla and Jay Bhanushali, it managed to get decent footfalls in theatres. The film has earned Rs.15.85 crore in the opening weekend. The other two releases, Amit Sahni Ki List and Pizza 3D failed to impress and only raked in Rs.2.83 crore and Rs. 2.91 crore respectively. Meanwhile, both Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Lai Bhaari continued its good run at the box-office, even in the second weekend.

Revenge wins

Decent music and an entertaining revenge-love story plot helped Hate Story 2 come out as a clear winner at the box-office last week. The film opened at Rs.5.46 crore on Friday and dipped a little to Rs. 4.74 crore on Saturday. But Sunday saw a jump with earnings of Rs.5.65 crore. Trade experts believe that positive word-of-mouth publicity will only help the film in making good collections by the end of first week. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh believes that Hate Story 2 is treading the same path as Ragini MMS 2. “Despite the fact that the film has released during the holy month of Ramadan, when a big chunk of the movie-going audience stays away from cinemas and that they have just one week to score big with the much awaited Kick coming up next week, Hate Story 2 has emerged trimphant,” he stated. Manoj Desai of G7 cinemas mentioned that although he expected a better turnout, Hate Story 2 saw a good weekend occupancy of 60-70 per cent. At the PVR chain of multiplexes, the occupancy was a little less at 45 per cent.
According to Gautam Dutta, COO – PVR Cinemas, both Amit Sahni… and Pizza 3D received a lukewarm response with just 10 and 20 per cent opening weekend occupancy respectively. Desai says the scene was similar at G7 cinemas, with Pizza 3D performing slightly better at 40 – 50 per cent occupancy. “Unfortunately, the weekday bookings have dropped for all three films. Monday opening wasn’t all that great,” adds Desai.

Rock steady

The Varun Dhawan – Alia Bhatt starrer Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania continues to do well and has earned the fourth highest second weekend collection this year. In its second weekend, the film performed better than some of the new releases, earning Rs 3.22 crore on Friday, Rs. 4.56 crore on Saturday and Rs. 6.10 crore on Sunday, taking the overall domestic total to Rs. 67.19 crore nett. “Humpty Sharma... is doing great and has maintained a good occupancy of 60 per cent in the second week,” stated Desai. Dutta adds that the average occupancy at his chain of cinemas was around 45 per cent. The film remained steady overseas as well, collecting Rs.12.38 crore gross at the end of second weekend.

Regional reign

Story continues below. Subscribe to see fewer ads.

Dhanush’s Tamil film, Velai Illa Pattathari, got a bumper opening in Tamil Nadu. Directed by Velraj, VIP (as it is popularly called) is the actor’s 25th film and has earned Rs.12.96 crore nett in its opening weekend. Several theatres in Chennai and other cities saw a housefull sign outside the theatres on Monday as well. The film fetched a solid start overseas as well, earning Rs.1.88 crore gross. The film has performed well in centres like United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia and Malaysia. In Maharashtra, Riteish Deshmukh’s film Lai Bhaari continues to shatter records in the Marathi industry. The film earned Rs. 1.05 crore on Friday, Rs.1.90 crore on Saturday, while the footfalls increased on Sunday, helping the film earn Rs. 2.70 crore, thus taking the overall total to Rs. 22.75 crore. “The film is performing exceptionally well and has got an average occupancy of 60 per cent,” mentioned Dutta.
Now, expectations are riding high on the much awaited Salman Khan starrer Kick, which comes out next week.

Screen Forecast

Our Verdict

In the Screen issue dated July 11-17, we had rightly predicted that the Varun Dhawan-Alia Bhatt starrer Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania will impress the audience. The film is doing good business in the second week too, adding to the box-office collection of Rs. 67.19 crore nett

Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.

Loading Recommendations...

Sep 11: Latest News

Live Blog