First weekend performance of latest release

There were three distinct movies released on the last Friday of 2005 - Shikhar, Mr. Prime Minister and Anjaane. With all the three suffering from poor promotion, none of them made any impact whatsoever at the box office. One would have expected that out of the three movies, 'Shikhar' may eventually show an up-rise if the word of mouth is positive but that too didn't happen. There wasn't much first day audience either and the reports/reviews weren't bright too [except for a very limited set of critics]. As things stand now, people are hardly talking about the movie with all eyes set on the upcoming releases 'Zinda' and 'Family'. Though performances of the entire cast [Ajay, Shahid, Bipasha, Amrita] are being appreciated, chances are bleak that this John Mathew Mathan directed social would manage to even break even.

Writing was clear on the wall for both 'Anjaane' and 'Mr. Prime Minister' and their BO fate also told the expected story. There was virtually no 'opening' for the movies and though the latter did have the charm of watching vintage Dev Anand saab, it stayed just at the thought level. The movie did have an interesting storyline but the execution didn't find any appreciation. Both the flicks are on their way to be major duds and should be out of the screens soon.

Overall, just like some of the previous years, a bad last Friday at the BO for Bollywood!

Last week's movies

'Dosti' and 'Vaah ! Life Ho To Aisi' were the two movies that had come a week before. Now that's the beauty of Suneel Darshan movies as they more often than not find an audience, and that too which are in complete contrast to industry trends. Picture this, a SRK movie is considered to be a metro movie that always does bumper business overseas as well. While in comparison, a Salman Khan movies takes a different route as it works better in interiors when compared to metros and overseas. But a Suneel Darshan -Akshay Kumar movie defies all such trends as it works in interiors of India and overseas! Wow!!

'Dosti' too has followed the same path as it hasn't worked great in metros like Mumbai or Delhi but has performed quite well in interiors of India and overseas. As things stand now, this should be another decent earner for Suneel Darshan though not a bumper HIT. Akshay Kumar ends the year on a good note while Bobby Deol too tastes success again after 'Barsaat'!

VLHTA has been having an average to below average run at the box office with a mixed response from different parts of the country. It has been doing reasonably well at the multiplexes [as expected] but is ordinary in other areas. Though long run of the movie is ruled out, this should be at maximum a break even preposition for its investors.

From the past

Due to not much opposition from both 'Dosti' and 'VLHTA' in the metros, the movie that has benefited most is 'Bluffmaster'. It crossed the 1 crore mark even in Mumbai for the second week in succession which is no mean achievement. Even in places like Delhi, Ahemdabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Gurgaon and NOIDA [basically all cities], it has held on well to make itself an above average preposition at least in India. Another point to be noticed is that even in second week, the print average of 'Bluffmaster' is better than the first week print average of both 'Dosti' and 'VLHTA'. In overseas, the movie has been doing extremely well hence making Abhishek Bachchan a hot property as he enters 2006. The word of mouth has been quite positive from most fronts [at least in the metros] that ensures that 'Bluffmaster' would exit with a total of around 20 crores.

'Ek Ajnabee' continued to slide in its 3rd week and has more or less come to a halt. A disappointing end to a great run so far for Big B, the movie has been an unlucky outing for Arjun Rampal who came with consistently good performances in 'Elaan', 'Vaada' and 'Yakeen' earlier. The movie would fail to come anywhere close to 10 crore, a rarity for a biggie, especially when it is starring Big B!

Neal N Nikki had some money coming from Mumbai in its 3rd week but that's about it. Overall there were hardly any collections to boast of in its 3rd week and is now disappearing across country after making around 6 crores. Kalyug made decent money from cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore in the third week but is now nearing its end with around 5 crore total, which is a good figure for this low budget Bhatt flick. Mohit Suri is now one of those rare directors who had 2 successes in a single debut making year! Collections of 'Apaharan' were on same lines as 'Kalyug' and anything from hereon is an additional bonus for this successful Prakash Jha flick that has safely crossed the 15 crore mark.

In the future

For a second Friday in a row, 3 movies are releasing, hence marking the beginning of New Year. Out of the three, while 'Jawani Dawani' appears to be a success in the making due to an entertaining feel, Emraan Hashmi's presence, Celina's uninhibited body display and peppy music, the rest two - 15 Park Avenue and Devaki - are art house cinema that would see a selective release targeted at the elite.