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18 Responses to “City of Gold, Paathshala (ongoing), half a dozen other obscure releases and bottom of the barrel box office!”
HousefullThe first quarter has gone by and we’re still looking for that elusive certified hit. Over the last month-and-a-half, the third season of the Indian Premiere League has kept people glued to their TV sets. But after the grand finale on Sunday, a bouquet of summer releases are getting set to hit the screens, starting with Housefull on April 30.
Sajid Nadiadwala’s story of a loser, featuring Akshay Kumar in the company of two ex-wives, a soon-to-be wife and an easily seduced nanny, will be followed by Yash Raj Films’ Badmaash Company, Rakesh Roshan’s Kites, Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti and Mani Ratnam’s Raavan. “Add Gurinder Chadha’s It’s A Wonderful Afterlife to the list and we have around Rs 350 crore at stake at the box-office till June,” says trade analyst Amod Mehra.
Upbeat about these ‘biggies’, Mehra says, “People are starved for good entertainment and these films are eagerly awaited by the audience.” Vinod Mirani, editor, Box Office India, however, doesn’t think that the summer vacation is any guarantee to draw a full house. “Earlier, parents would send kids to the movies when they were bored. Now they have computer games like the Play Station or Xbox that they are hooked to.
Movie watching is becoming an expensive pastime; kids no longer catch a film every other day,” he reasons, adding that almost 90 per cent of the movies fail commercially. “The hit-flop ratio has remained unchanged over the last four years,” sighs Mehra.
BADMAASH COMPANY
What it’s about…
Set in the 1990s, the film revolves around four youngsters who get together to start an import business of all that yuppie Indians long for. They find a way to beat the system and make their venture a success. All is well until the maverick entrepreneurs are forced to shut shop. Can they come up with yet another plan to bring back the business?
USP: According to first-time director Parmeet Sethi, the film’s aces are the subjects that it revolves around — scams, loving, losing and above all, earning respect. “My film has style and soul and that is an irresistible combination,” he asserts.
HOUSEFULL
What it’s about…
The story starts with a jinxed Aarush (Kumar) who believes that his luck will change once he finds his true love. In his quest for that, he resorts to some falsehoods. And as one lie leads to another, the comedy of errors escalates into chaos, leading to a hilarious climax.
USP: Director Sajid Khan believes that his film will provide the kind of wholesome entertainment that we last saw in 3 Idiots. “The stars are looking good, the hype has been great and my name too could be a draw,” he says without modesty.
IT’S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE
What it’s about…
A comical fairy-tale look at the life of a Punjabi mother-daughter (Azmi-Khan) duo in West London. Billed as A Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Shaun Of The Dead, the film is about the extreme lengths a woman can go to find a match for her daughter.
USP: Independence of mind and action of the female protagonist could very well be an important aspect of Gurinder Chadha’s film. “Marriage is uppermost in almost every Indian’s mind. From the time a girl is born, she is being moulded into a perfect bride,” says the director, adding, “She’s groomed as someone else’s appendage rather than someone with her own identity. In my films, though, a woman is shown to be more than just a daughter, wife and mother, she’s someone who does what she wants to do, as opposed to what she’s told to do.”
Trade Talk: “After ghastly ghost films like Click, Rokk and Phoonk 2, people are now running scared of spirits,” remarks Mehra. “But this one looks like a decent film. And given a choice, I’ll see It’s A Wonderful Afterlife before the Shahid -Anushka movie that releases on the same day.”
KITES
What it’s about…
The only thing keeping this young man alive in the harsh Mexican dessert is his search for the love of his life, who is engaged to another man. A love story that goes beyond borders and cultures, and defies every rule of relationships.
USP: “Kites fly against the wind… the stronger the wind blows, the higher the kites fly.” says Rakesh Roshan, adding, “The stronger the opposition becomes, the stronger is the love between two individuals. That’s the highlight of Kites.”
Trade Talk: “Kites has the deadly combination of three Roshans — Rakesh, Hrithik and Rajesh — and Anurag Basu, whom Rakesh Roshan had described as India’s best screenplay writer,” enthuses Nahta. It is expected to take a bumper opening because it’s Hrithik’s first film in two years.
RAJNEETI
What it’s about…
Reported to be an adaptation of the Mahabharata, the film is a family drama set against the backdrop of central India’s politics. It revolves around a fiercely contested election campaign that brings money and power together, with treachery and manipulation used as weapons. As the conflict-ridden characters canvass for votes, love and friendship become mere baits, and relationships are sacrificed at the altar of political alignments.
USP: According to Prakash Jha, the story of young people venturing into politics is the film’s selling point. “Running parallel is a great emotional story of a family caught in the cesspool of politics,” he adds.
Trade Talk: The biggest multi-starrer in recent times, Vinod Mirani says that though the buzz about the movie is strong political awareness in India varies in regions. “In the north, people are more politically conscious, but down South, only local politics matter. In the West, citizens are only focused on making money,” he explains.
RAAVAN
What it’s about…
Reported as a modern day Ramayana with political undertones, the film revolves around the kidnapping of a top cop’s wife by a Naxal leader. Accompanied by a cop Laxman and a contemporary Hanuman, Ram goes in search of Raavan and his wife. The film was simultaneously shot in
Hindi and Tamil.
USP: Vikram, who plays Ram in the Hindi version and Raavan in the Tamil one, says, “You may walk into the theatre thinking it is a take on the epi — you may even find parallels — but when you walk out, you’d have forgotten the connection,” adding that, that’s exactly what happened to him after he completed shooting.
Trade Talk: AR Rahman’s music and the pairing of Abhishek and Aishwarya for the first time after Guru, has already raised expectations. “But given that Abhishek plays the title role and abducts another man’s wife I might have had certain reservations about the film. But with Mani at the helm, I’m certain the twist in the casting will be accepted. That fact that Abhishek hasn’t played a hero in a while — even in Paa, he played a strong supporting role — could work to the film’s advantage,” maintains Mehra.
B.O. update: New releases have disappointing start
- By Taran Adarsh, April 24, 2010 – 08:02 IST
The Friday witnessed as many as five prominent releases – CITY OF GOLD, APARTMENT, BIRD IDOL, KUCHH KARIYE and MUSKURAKE DEKH ZARA – and barring CITY OF GOLD, which is carrying favourable reports, the opening day numbers of all films were extremely poor. However, all eyes are on next week’s biggie HOUSE FULL, which is expected to start on a thunderous note at the box-office.
Bollywood counts its losses in first quarter
India Gazette
Wednesday 28th April, 2010
(IANS)
Students and parents aren’t the only ones waiting for results. Bollywood’s quarterly report card is out, revealing the industry hasn’t had even one big hit to justify all the money it splurged.
‘The first three months have been very bad. Bollywood has lost anywhere between Rs.300 and 400 crore and there is not one hit to show for it,’ Vikas Mohan, who runs the trade publication Super Cinema, told IANS.
‘Producers will give the excuse of IPL (Indian Premier League) and many such factors. But the honest truth is we are not making good films.’
He may have hit bull’s eye. Consider this: despite the notion of stars attracting audiences and therefore commanding high prices, the audience seems to have rejected them in 2010.
According to ibosnetwork.com, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan worked wonders with cards in ‘Teen Patti’, but the film flopped with just Rs.8.5 crore despite the added attraction of Ben Kingsley. His ‘Rann’ fared only a little better with Rs.14 crore.
Salman Khan’s ‘Veer’ made Rs.42 crore, but with distributors shelling out a rumoured Rs.70 crore for it, the film was a flop. At Rs.25 crore, director-actor Farhan Akhtar-Deepika Padukone-starrer ‘Karthik Calling Karthik’ could not call on profits.
Neither could Vishal Bharadwaj’s critically acclaimed production venture ‘Ishqiya’ with Rs.31.5 crore. The Shahid Kapoor-starrer ‘Chance Pe Dance’ could make only Rs.15 crore.
‘The best month this year was January and that too because of ’3 Idiots’ and ‘Well Done Abba’, both of which released in December last year. Among the 2010 releases we had good business with ‘My Name is Khan’ and ‘Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge’,’ said Vishal Kapur, COO, Fun Cinemas.
According to a trade pundit, the biggest grosser this year so far has been Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘My Name Is Khan’. Yet by complex box office estimates, it is not a hit. That is because the distributor, Fox Star Studios, is supposed to have paid Rs.100 crore for the film, which grossed worldwide only about Rs.86.5 crore.
Ajay Devgn-Konkona Sen Sharma- starrer ‘Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge’, is on its way to becoming a moderate hit as, despite only 30-40 percent opening in multiplexes in the first week, it has netted Rs.28 crore.
National Award winning director Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Love Sex Aur Dhokha’ (LSD) grossed Rs.8.5 crore and made profits for its producer Ekta Kapoor.
This plus the rave reviews, however, has not had Bollywood jump with joy because the reason for the profit has been a low budget of Rs.1 crore and very little advertising spend.
LSD made profits for its producers, but to be called a hit, a film needs to make enough money at the box office with sufficient ticket sales. In that aspect this ‘urban hit’ is not exactly a Bollywood hit, an analyst pointed out.
However, Bollywood should take heart from the fact that the first quarter of the year seldom generates any big hits.
The biggest hits usually release late summer and between the Diwali to December period. And Bollywood might still recover its losses with upcoming big budget releases like ‘Housefull’, ‘Kites’, ‘Raajneeti’, ‘Raavan’ and ‘Action Replay’ riding on some big names like Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, and Aishwarya Rai.
they have cited IBOS but they’ve used gross figures for all the films mentioned here. So for example Veer is 31 crores at IBOS, the gross figure is 42 crores.
Bolly back in business, all shows blazing
- Housefull ends drought with record count
Come Friday and at any given time the same film will be playing on five out of six screens in the same multiplex. The shows may or may not go houseful, but Sajid Khan’s Housefull will be playing 25 times every day at the same plex property — Fame (South City).
“The IPL is finally over and it’s time for movies (read Bollywood) to make a comeback,” says Aditya Shroff of Fame Cinemas, almost triumphantly.
“People have been waiting to watch a big movie (read Bollywood) for over two months since My Name is Khan. The buzz around Housefull is very good within the industry and May 1 is a holiday. Keeping all these factors in mind, it makes perfect sense to go with so many shows for our audience (read Bollywood).”
The plexes are going ballistic with Housefull, after a two-month Bolly drought, but the total number of prints for the Bengal territory hasn’t been able to match 3 Idiots or My Name is Khan. While the Aamir Khan blockbuster released on 103 screens in the state and the Shah Rukh Khan biggie on 130, the Akshay Kumar comedy hits 95 screens.
“With two big Bengali films — Amanush and Wanted — releasing this Friday, we couldn’t go any wider with Housefull,” explains Debashish Dey, distribution head of Aum Moviez, which is handling the Sajid Khan multi-starrer in Bengal.
Oscar-hero The Hurt Locker has drawn decent crowds in week one, as has Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife in week three, but the city plexes are now desperate to jump back on the big Bollywood bandwagon. INOX has gone huge too, playing Housefull 63 times daily at its four plexes, 17 at Forum alone.
“The Bolly season starts again and the first release is always big. We saw that last year with New York, which got the first-mover advantage after the plex-producer strike got over,” says Captain Virendra Marya of INOX.
Director Sajid Khan has made a public pledge to producer Sajid Nadiadwala to get Rs 60 crore-plus collections for the Rs 40 crore film. For that to happen, the first weekend must go houseful as Housefull will have Yash Raj’s Badmaash Company and Gurinder Chadha’s It’s a Wonderful Afterlife for box-office company from May 7.
Chennai Box Office – April 23 to 25
Thursday, 29 April , 2010, 12:16
The summer CBO is yet to kick-start. The IPL fever reached its peak as Chennai Super Kings clashed with Mumbai Indians in the finals on April 25 and, because of it, theatre attendance in Tamil Nadu fell by nearly 30 per cent during the weekend.
In Chennai, even multiplexes found it difficult to get full houses on Sunday evening and night shows.
Lingusamy’s Paiyaa remains the number one at the box-office. At number two is Angadi Theru, which is doing well in Chennai.
In third position is the new release Rettachuzhi, which took a very lukewarm opening. And at number four is the Telugu film Darling, which opened in six Chennai screens.
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya has dropped to the last place.
There has been a dull phase for the last few months with film’s failing one after the other and theatres seeing first day audiences that could be counted on one hand.
But with the release of Housefull it is all set to change as the film is all set to take a big start all over India. Housefull may well take the biggest opening ever for all the big names concerned with film like Akshay Kumar, Sajid Nadiadwala, Sajid Khan and Deepika Padukone.
The first quarter is not historically famous for huge openings as they are normally occur in the last quarter but with Housefull all that is looking to change as it will probably have one of the biggest openings ever and easily the biggest opening ever recorded in the first quarter of the year.
Unless botched up by Sajid, I stand by my 100 crore prediction for Housefull.
It is going to be helped a lot by the fact that audiences have been really starved.
Read Sahil’s take on the latest quandary Paathshala http://www.thevigilidiot.com/
@Satyam : U should add a link to his website on your blog’s homepage. Would be nice.
April 23, 2010 at 7:51 AM
Bollywood to sizzle post IPL
HousefullThe first quarter has gone by and we’re still looking for that elusive certified hit. Over the last month-and-a-half, the third season of the Indian Premiere League has kept people glued to their TV sets. But after the grand finale on Sunday, a bouquet of summer releases are getting set to hit the screens, starting with Housefull on April 30.
Sajid Nadiadwala’s story of a loser, featuring Akshay Kumar in the company of two ex-wives, a soon-to-be wife and an easily seduced nanny, will be followed by Yash Raj Films’ Badmaash Company, Rakesh Roshan’s Kites, Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti and Mani Ratnam’s Raavan. “Add Gurinder Chadha’s It’s A Wonderful Afterlife to the list and we have around Rs 350 crore at stake at the box-office till June,” says trade analyst Amod Mehra.
Upbeat about these ‘biggies’, Mehra says, “People are starved for good entertainment and these films are eagerly awaited by the audience.” Vinod Mirani, editor, Box Office India, however, doesn’t think that the summer vacation is any guarantee to draw a full house. “Earlier, parents would send kids to the movies when they were bored. Now they have computer games like the Play Station or Xbox that they are hooked to.
Movie watching is becoming an expensive pastime; kids no longer catch a film every other day,” he reasons, adding that almost 90 per cent of the movies fail commercially. “The hit-flop ratio has remained unchanged over the last four years,” sighs Mehra.
BADMAASH COMPANY
What it’s about…
Set in the 1990s, the film revolves around four youngsters who get together to start an import business of all that yuppie Indians long for. They find a way to beat the system and make their venture a success. All is well until the maverick entrepreneurs are forced to shut shop. Can they come up with yet another plan to bring back the business?
USP: According to first-time director Parmeet Sethi, the film’s aces are the subjects that it revolves around — scams, loving, losing and above all, earning respect. “My film has style and soul and that is an irresistible combination,” he asserts.
HOUSEFULL
What it’s about…
The story starts with a jinxed Aarush (Kumar) who believes that his luck will change once he finds his true love. In his quest for that, he resorts to some falsehoods. And as one lie leads to another, the comedy of errors escalates into chaos, leading to a hilarious climax.
USP: Director Sajid Khan believes that his film will provide the kind of wholesome entertainment that we last saw in 3 Idiots. “The stars are looking good, the hype has been great and my name too could be a draw,” he says without modesty.
IT’S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE
What it’s about…
A comical fairy-tale look at the life of a Punjabi mother-daughter (Azmi-Khan) duo in West London. Billed as A Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Shaun Of The Dead, the film is about the extreme lengths a woman can go to find a match for her daughter.
USP: Independence of mind and action of the female protagonist could very well be an important aspect of Gurinder Chadha’s film. “Marriage is uppermost in almost every Indian’s mind. From the time a girl is born, she is being moulded into a perfect bride,” says the director, adding, “She’s groomed as someone else’s appendage rather than someone with her own identity. In my films, though, a woman is shown to be more than just a daughter, wife and mother, she’s someone who does what she wants to do, as opposed to what she’s told to do.”
Trade Talk: “After ghastly ghost films like Click, Rokk and Phoonk 2, people are now running scared of spirits,” remarks Mehra. “But this one looks like a decent film. And given a choice, I’ll see It’s A Wonderful Afterlife before the Shahid -Anushka movie that releases on the same day.”
KITES
What it’s about…
The only thing keeping this young man alive in the harsh Mexican dessert is his search for the love of his life, who is engaged to another man. A love story that goes beyond borders and cultures, and defies every rule of relationships.
USP: “Kites fly against the wind… the stronger the wind blows, the higher the kites fly.” says Rakesh Roshan, adding, “The stronger the opposition becomes, the stronger is the love between two individuals. That’s the highlight of Kites.”
Trade Talk: “Kites has the deadly combination of three Roshans — Rakesh, Hrithik and Rajesh — and Anurag Basu, whom Rakesh Roshan had described as India’s best screenplay writer,” enthuses Nahta. It is expected to take a bumper opening because it’s Hrithik’s first film in two years.
RAJNEETI
What it’s about…
Reported to be an adaptation of the Mahabharata, the film is a family drama set against the backdrop of central India’s politics. It revolves around a fiercely contested election campaign that brings money and power together, with treachery and manipulation used as weapons. As the conflict-ridden characters canvass for votes, love and friendship become mere baits, and relationships are sacrificed at the altar of political alignments.
USP: According to Prakash Jha, the story of young people venturing into politics is the film’s selling point. “Running parallel is a great emotional story of a family caught in the cesspool of politics,” he adds.
Trade Talk: The biggest multi-starrer in recent times, Vinod Mirani says that though the buzz about the movie is strong political awareness in India varies in regions. “In the north, people are more politically conscious, but down South, only local politics matter. In the West, citizens are only focused on making money,” he explains.
RAAVAN
What it’s about…
Reported as a modern day Ramayana with political undertones, the film revolves around the kidnapping of a top cop’s wife by a Naxal leader. Accompanied by a cop Laxman and a contemporary Hanuman, Ram goes in search of Raavan and his wife. The film was simultaneously shot in
Hindi and Tamil.
USP: Vikram, who plays Ram in the Hindi version and Raavan in the Tamil one, says, “You may walk into the theatre thinking it is a take on the epi — you may even find parallels — but when you walk out, you’d have forgotten the connection,” adding that, that’s exactly what happened to him after he completed shooting.
Trade Talk: AR Rahman’s music and the pairing of Abhishek and Aishwarya for the first time after Guru, has already raised expectations. “But given that Abhishek plays the title role and abducts another man’s wife I might have had certain reservations about the film. But with Mani at the helm, I’m certain the twist in the casting will be accepted. That fact that Abhishek hasn’t played a hero in a while — even in Paa, he played a strong supporting role — could work to the film’s advantage,” maintains Mehra.
April 24, 2010 at 12:40 AM
B.O. update: New releases have disappointing start
- By Taran Adarsh, April 24, 2010 – 08:02 IST
The Friday witnessed as many as five prominent releases – CITY OF GOLD, APARTMENT, BIRD IDOL, KUCHH KARIYE and MUSKURAKE DEKH ZARA – and barring CITY OF GOLD, which is carrying favourable reports, the opening day numbers of all films were extremely poor. However, all eyes are on next week’s biggie HOUSE FULL, which is expected to start on a thunderous note at the box-office.
April 27, 2010 at 1:14 AM
Midweek B.O.: New releases are box-office duds!
April 28, 2010 at 7:43 AM
Bollywood counts its losses in first quarter
India Gazette
Wednesday 28th April, 2010
(IANS)
Students and parents aren’t the only ones waiting for results. Bollywood’s quarterly report card is out, revealing the industry hasn’t had even one big hit to justify all the money it splurged.
‘The first three months have been very bad. Bollywood has lost anywhere between Rs.300 and 400 crore and there is not one hit to show for it,’ Vikas Mohan, who runs the trade publication Super Cinema, told IANS.
‘Producers will give the excuse of IPL (Indian Premier League) and many such factors. But the honest truth is we are not making good films.’
He may have hit bull’s eye. Consider this: despite the notion of stars attracting audiences and therefore commanding high prices, the audience seems to have rejected them in 2010.
According to ibosnetwork.com, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan worked wonders with cards in ‘Teen Patti’, but the film flopped with just Rs.8.5 crore despite the added attraction of Ben Kingsley. His ‘Rann’ fared only a little better with Rs.14 crore.
Salman Khan’s ‘Veer’ made Rs.42 crore, but with distributors shelling out a rumoured Rs.70 crore for it, the film was a flop. At Rs.25 crore, director-actor Farhan Akhtar-Deepika Padukone-starrer ‘Karthik Calling Karthik’ could not call on profits.
Neither could Vishal Bharadwaj’s critically acclaimed production venture ‘Ishqiya’ with Rs.31.5 crore. The Shahid Kapoor-starrer ‘Chance Pe Dance’ could make only Rs.15 crore.
‘The best month this year was January and that too because of ’3 Idiots’ and ‘Well Done Abba’, both of which released in December last year. Among the 2010 releases we had good business with ‘My Name is Khan’ and ‘Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge’,’ said Vishal Kapur, COO, Fun Cinemas.
According to a trade pundit, the biggest grosser this year so far has been Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘My Name Is Khan’. Yet by complex box office estimates, it is not a hit. That is because the distributor, Fox Star Studios, is supposed to have paid Rs.100 crore for the film, which grossed worldwide only about Rs.86.5 crore.
Ajay Devgn-Konkona Sen Sharma- starrer ‘Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge’, is on its way to becoming a moderate hit as, despite only 30-40 percent opening in multiplexes in the first week, it has netted Rs.28 crore.
National Award winning director Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Love Sex Aur Dhokha’ (LSD) grossed Rs.8.5 crore and made profits for its producer Ekta Kapoor.
This plus the rave reviews, however, has not had Bollywood jump with joy because the reason for the profit has been a low budget of Rs.1 crore and very little advertising spend.
LSD made profits for its producers, but to be called a hit, a film needs to make enough money at the box office with sufficient ticket sales. In that aspect this ‘urban hit’ is not exactly a Bollywood hit, an analyst pointed out.
However, Bollywood should take heart from the fact that the first quarter of the year seldom generates any big hits.
The biggest hits usually release late summer and between the Diwali to December period. And Bollywood might still recover its losses with upcoming big budget releases like ‘Housefull’, ‘Kites’, ‘Raajneeti’, ‘Raavan’ and ‘Action Replay’ riding on some big names like Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, and Aishwarya Rai.
April 28, 2010 at 7:44 AM
they have cited IBOS but they’ve used gross figures for all the films mentioned here. So for example Veer is 31 crores at IBOS, the gross figure is 42 crores.
April 28, 2010 at 1:21 PM
A fresh summer for Bollywood
April 28, 2010 at 1:29 PM
“PNC is also going to start shooting big-budget film Actor, starring Amitabh Bachchan, in Paris mid-year, for which it’s already in pre-production”
AB has not mentioned this movie on his blog. He is scheduled to be in Paris for that literary event in June.
April 28, 2010 at 1:31 PM
yeah this is the first time I’ve heard of this film..
April 28, 2010 at 5:49 PM
Calcutta’s Telegraph:
Bolly back in business, all shows blazing
- Housefull ends drought with record count
Come Friday and at any given time the same film will be playing on five out of six screens in the same multiplex. The shows may or may not go houseful, but Sajid Khan’s Housefull will be playing 25 times every day at the same plex property — Fame (South City).
“The IPL is finally over and it’s time for movies (read Bollywood) to make a comeback,” says Aditya Shroff of Fame Cinemas, almost triumphantly.
“People have been waiting to watch a big movie (read Bollywood) for over two months since My Name is Khan. The buzz around Housefull is very good within the industry and May 1 is a holiday. Keeping all these factors in mind, it makes perfect sense to go with so many shows for our audience (read Bollywood).”
The plexes are going ballistic with Housefull, after a two-month Bolly drought, but the total number of prints for the Bengal territory hasn’t been able to match 3 Idiots or My Name is Khan. While the Aamir Khan blockbuster released on 103 screens in the state and the Shah Rukh Khan biggie on 130, the Akshay Kumar comedy hits 95 screens.
“With two big Bengali films — Amanush and Wanted — releasing this Friday, we couldn’t go any wider with Housefull,” explains Debashish Dey, distribution head of Aum Moviez, which is handling the Sajid Khan multi-starrer in Bengal.
Oscar-hero The Hurt Locker has drawn decent crowds in week one, as has Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife in week three, but the city plexes are now desperate to jump back on the big Bollywood bandwagon. INOX has gone huge too, playing Housefull 63 times daily at its four plexes, 17 at Forum alone.
“The Bolly season starts again and the first release is always big. We saw that last year with New York, which got the first-mover advantage after the plex-producer strike got over,” says Captain Virendra Marya of INOX.
Director Sajid Khan has made a public pledge to producer Sajid Nadiadwala to get Rs 60 crore-plus collections for the Rs 40 crore film. For that to happen, the first weekend must go houseful as Housefull will have Yash Raj’s Badmaash Company and Gurinder Chadha’s It’s a Wonderful Afterlife for box-office company from May 7.
April 29, 2010 at 8:02 AM
Chennai Box Office – April 23 to 25
Thursday, 29 April , 2010, 12:16
The summer CBO is yet to kick-start. The IPL fever reached its peak as Chennai Super Kings clashed with Mumbai Indians in the finals on April 25 and, because of it, theatre attendance in Tamil Nadu fell by nearly 30 per cent during the weekend.
In Chennai, even multiplexes found it difficult to get full houses on Sunday evening and night shows.
Lingusamy’s Paiyaa remains the number one at the box-office. At number two is Angadi Theru, which is doing well in Chennai.
In third position is the new release Rettachuzhi, which took a very lukewarm opening. And at number four is the Telugu film Darling, which opened in six Chennai screens.
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya has dropped to the last place.
http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=14940039&cid=13525926
April 29, 2010 at 11:51 AM
Housefull All Set To Get Box Office Going Again
Thursday 29th April 2010 10.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
There has been a dull phase for the last few months with film’s failing one after the other and theatres seeing first day audiences that could be counted on one hand.
But with the release of Housefull it is all set to change as the film is all set to take a big start all over India. Housefull may well take the biggest opening ever for all the big names concerned with film like Akshay Kumar, Sajid Nadiadwala, Sajid Khan and Deepika Padukone.
The first quarter is not historically famous for huge openings as they are normally occur in the last quarter but with Housefull all that is looking to change as it will probably have one of the biggest openings ever and easily the biggest opening ever recorded in the first quarter of the year.
April 29, 2010 at 11:52 AM
Though this is the last film I’d watch in a theater (and rarely do I watch something like this on DVD) I hope Akshay gets a big one here.
April 29, 2010 at 1:03 PM
Unless botched up by Sajid, I stand by my 100 crore prediction for Housefull.
It is going to be helped a lot by the fact that audiences have been really starved.
April 29, 2010 at 1:22 PM
Read Sahil’s take on the latest quandary Paathshala http://www.thevigilidiot.com/
@Satyam : U should add a link to his website on your blog’s homepage. Would be nice.
April 29, 2010 at 1:42 PM
done, it’s in the blogroll.
April 29, 2010 at 1:56 PM
Review from TOI – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/hindi/Housefull/articleshow/5872757.cms
It is the usual crappy Akshay comedy. I really hope Action Replay is better.
April 29, 2010 at 3:33 PM
Bollywood’s Flop Show: 2010 Starts on a Low Note
By R.M. VIJAYAKAR
http://www.indiawest.com/readmore.aspx?id=2179&sid=3
April 29, 2010 at 4:21 PM
Big bonanza