Lacklustre response at the BO

No story, no applause

The four films that released this week, according to the trade, haven’t been able to do well because of their weak content and stale storylines, thinks the industry. Manoj Desai of G7 jokingly remarks that the storylines of these films are so unimpressive that the audience has shunned them. “The older audience is not able to decipher the title Fugly and thus, are not interested in the film. As far as Unforgettable and Chal Bhaag are concerned, there’s minimum occupancy like 15-20 persons in a show,” says Desai, who is disappointed with the way Fugly has performed. “I thought it would go the Fukrey way, but it hasn’t managed that, and the occupancy wasn’t great on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the film however, managed a full house,” he remarks.
However, the director, Kabir Sadanand is quite happy with the business the film has done. He says, “For a new comer film it’s fab. In the opening weekend, the film has collected Rs.9.54 crore (gross).”
According to Taran Adarsh, Fugly is now facing the audience test. “The response has been divided for Fugly with its business witnessing an upward trend in some circuits, particularly North India, but the tide has remained low in certain sectors,” says Adarsh, who thinks it’s Holiday… that’s marching towards Rs. 100 cr. Holiday… made Rs.4.36 cr on Friday, Rs.6.31 cr on Saturday and Rs.8.70 cr on Sunday, taking the total tally to Rs.88.05 cr. “There was excellent growth in business on Sunday,” says Adarsh.
The occupancy, however, shows that Fugly isn’t up to the mark. “The film has just 20-25 per cent occupancy. Even other releases of the week are poor with almost no good shows,” says film proprietor Rajesh Thadani, adding that the last week release, Holiday… is much better with around 80 per cent occupancy across theatres.
“The week saw a number of inconsequential films that lacked creativity,” remarks Mirani who points out that Chal Bhaag could attract no audience and Machhli Jal Ki Rani Hai faced no audience no show status. “Of Secrecy, Unforgettable and Naari Teri Shakti Anokhi sank without a trace,” he adds.
Holiday… is having its best run in UAE-GCC & Pakistan. Even Queen is doing superbly well in Hong Kong. “The overseas total of Holiday… after the second weekend is approx $ 3.416 million (Rs 20.52 cr),” says Adarsh. The coming week would be good for Humshakals, as it is the only movie releasing. Desai says, “Coming from Sajid Khan, it will be a humourous ride and thus can be expected to do well.”

The surprise package

Filmistaan was exempted from entertainment tax in Maharashtra from Saturday, June 14 night onwards. Analysts think it is really working in the film’s favour, especially at single screens. “The ticket price of the movie went down to Rs.64 from Rs.90 at my theatre. While it was already doing well, it has seen 100 per cent occupancy on Saturday night and throughout Sunday,” says Desai, as he adds that the word-of-mouth publicity is working really well. Even Thadani is surprised to see the increasing number of viewers for the film. “The film is doing really well in the second week,” he says. CityLights, in its third week, is managing to do good business. “It has collected Rs.10 lakhs in the third weekend, taking its grand total to Rs.8.04 cr nett,” says Adarsh.

International arrival

Desi fantasy films may or may not entice the audience much, but the international ones do a good job. And thus, How To Train Your Dragon 2 is enjoying its run at the Indian theatres. “The movie on Thursday made Rs.20 lakhs, Rs.1.01 cr on Friday, Rs.1.89 cr on Saturday and Rs.2.15 cr on Sunday, taking the total to Rs.5.25 cr,” mentioned Adarsh.In its fourth week , X-Men: Days of Future Past seems to be pulling in the viewers. According to Adarsh, the film, currently in its fourth week, made Rs.10 lakhs on Friday, Rs.19 lakhs on Saturday and Rs.21 lakhs on Sunday, taking the total tally of its India business to Rs. 44.12 cr.