First weekend performance of latest release

No new film was released over the weekend gone by.

Last week's movies

First week's collections of JODHAA AKBAR must have brought a sigh of relief for UTV and Ashutsh Gowariker. Collections close to 25 crores after a one week run isn't phenomenal by any means but in the process the least this has done is ensured that the film won't be labelled as a flop at the box office. The film's collections are pretty much in proportion to the kind of publicity which was done for this Hrithik-Ash starrer. The film was reasonably stable during the week though as mentioned in this very column last week, second week's collections would be closely monitored.

JODHAA AKBAR has done well in Mumbai where it earned 5 crores +. Delhi was just about good though with a little lesser than 2.5 crores coming in whereas Delhi NCR saw another 1.25 crores being added to the collections. Ahmedabad was close to 1 crore though Bangalore managed to cross the 1 crore milestone.

All eyes are now set on how week 2 would perform since that would be the ultimate test of the film's stability and hence the distance it goes.

From the past

SUPERSTAR has crashed completely and just short of being yet another box office disaster of 2008. The film fell by more than 90% in the second week, hence consolidating on the fact that as of now Kunal Khemu, in spite of being a good actor, would have to either appear as a part of a multi starrer or feature in a well packaged project.

Just 20 lakhs in second week means that SUPERSTAR would see an early DVD release! However, Rohit Jugraj should not be loosing heart as his work has been appreciated by many and he should be able to bounce back in his next attempt.

As expected, MITHYA was impacted by JODHAA AKBAR and the result was a 65% fall. The film did earn 1 crore further but it's chances in weeks to come do not sound too promising as the heat around the movie has surprisingly subsided. The word of mouth hasn't been able to take the film the kind of distance which it deserves.

Still, an average runner which would have good DVD sales, MITHYA is a coming of age film which has further established the immense talent of Rajat Kapoor and Ranvir Shorey.

SUNDAY fell further in the week gone by and would now be seeing a DVD release this weekend. In it's fifth week, the film saw a 70% drop to gather 65 lakhs. The film has come close to 22 crores but won't cover much distance from here.

Meanwhile TAARE ZAMEEN PAR still occupies a Top-3 slot though it's collection did fall the maximum ever, i.e. 55%, in the week gone by. Earning 65 lakhs, the film has crossed 58.5 crores. 60 crores look difficult now. WELCOME got another 25 lakhs to reach 75.5. crores though the film's DVDs are out.

In the future

From now till 7th March (when BLACK & WHITE arrives), there is no few film opening at theatres.