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39 Responses to “Bheja Fry 2, Bhindi Bazaar Inc, Always Kabhi Kabhi, Ready (ongoing), the rest of the box office”
Ready Still Tops As New Releases Open To Dull Houses
Friday 17th June 2010 12.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Ready still leads the box office race in its third week as it got a 30-35% response at the start of its third week at multiplexes. The film has around 30-40% less volume of shows at multiplexes then last week.
Bheja Fry 2 and Always Kabhi Kabhi were around the 15-20% mark with Bheja Fry 2 having more shows so should show better overall collections.
Bin Bulaye Baraati was 50-60% at some multiplexes in the North but this is because it has been released at so few multiplexes and even those multiplexes that have released the film haven given it just 2-3 shows. The film is dependent on single screens and most of these will start shows at 12 noon.
All the new releases are dependent on word of mouth and if they don’t find an audience, it will mean a huge jump in business for Ready on Saturday and Sunday like last week.
Ready crossed the 100 crore nett mark on its 14th day making it the fifth film to go over 100 crore nett.
The collections now stand at around 101.50 crore nett in two weeks as the second week added 32.25 crore nett as per early estimates. This is the third highest collection ever for week two. Three Idiots did 56 crore nett and Dabangg was 36 crore nett while Golmaal 3 did 32 crore nett.
The film did see a drop on Thursday as compared to the other days and now it remains to be seen where Friday comes in at as the third week of the film has lost more screen space than the second week.
G3 didn’t do 100 crores, it was around 90 crores. Rajneeti too was in this range or a bit over. So between these and Ghajini there is a 20-25 crore gap which is important. Of course no other film has even done what G3 and Rajneeti did with or without big stars.
Note how all of these films are rooted efforts (haven’t seen G3 though). Sometimes debased ones for sure but nonetheless ‘universal’ films and this is the all important category you’ve missed. the box office can only be maximized with films that have appeal across the board for one reason or another. Which is why the purely multiplex film can never hit the highest benchmarks.
How remarkably the tide has turned in some years now. In fact one could posit 2005 as the point when things changed for good. That year the biggest grossers were BnB and No Entry. In ’06 you had Krrish, D2 (not very rooted in the obvious ways but an exceptional star cast and the story at the heart of it was a fairly familiar one), Fanaa, LRM, RDB (this last didn’t do much in smaller centers but was nonetheless a rooted urban film), in ’07 you had OSO on top (SRK turning to the more masala Karz paradigm.. in fact even in ’04 MHN was pointing in this direction) and then some of the comedies from Akshay’s to Partner. and of course Guru. Even the small films that became big were rooted (CDI and TZP). In ’08 Ghajini above all but SRK then went ‘small-town’ for RNBDJ, in ’09 3I, APKGK (an old school love story), Wanted though LAK was the exception this year. And we’ve already talked about 2010. In 2011 Ready so far. But even earlier in the decade whenever Hrithik had a Filmkraft film he always did better than the competition because these too were rooted efforts despite all the sci-fi/superhero claptrap.
The point here is that the days of the KHNH kind of film being among the most significant grossers are long long gone. And the biggest proof of this is SRK himself who’s been doing all sorts of other stuff culminating in this years ultimate gamble with Ra 1 and don 2.
I have a feeling Ra.One is going to be SRK’s Toofan/Ajooba. I don’t wish ill, but this really, every passing day, seems like a very risky gamble. The financials of this film just don’t feel right.
to get the financials right the film has to be one of the biggest grossers ever. At a 130 crore budget (according to nahata) even 150 crores can hardly make it a hit. So if the film say opens at 50-60 crores and gets to 100-120 crores that would be fantastic on every score but it would still be a flop! So I find it strange that SRK has gambled so much on a film where the math simply doesn’t work out unless he’s genuinely expecting a 3I gross here. And note how even with 80 crores Dabanng didn’t exceed 140-145 crores. Ready recently with 70 crores will probably get to 120 or maybe slightly more. Ghajini had better trending than this. It doubled it’s initial and some. But all of these models just don’t work for the budget of Ra 1. He needs minimally 170-180 crores here! The thing though is that if you’re going for that sort of historic gross you also need a historic effort. A MeA or Sholay or even Lagaan (would have grossed a lot more than its 30 crores without Gadar.. 40 crores for example is not unreasonable to assume given how historic Gadar was in many parts of North India.. 40 crores in 2001 would have been quite stupendous for a 3 hr 45 min film and of course Gadar at the time was very strong even in major metros… so actually a gross even significantly greater than 40 crores wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.. my own feeling is this film could have done 50 crores or so without Gadar.. much as MP with some tweaking could have been a massive grosser in 2005). Essentially you offer the audience something very ‘new’. The problem is that with Hollywood increasingly being a factor (next up is Transformers), with Robot having gained a great deal of visibility, with SRK also being frankly not the right age for this kind of deal the bar just becomes that much more difficult to reach. Typically you need a younger star doing this sort of thing. So it’s a stiff target for SRK and in addition to all the other issues he’s also doing it with Anubhav Sinha!
But there’s also a strategic problem here. Let’s say the film works to some degree, forget the budget. What’s SRK”s plan beyond this? Obviously he can’t keep doing this sort of stuff. The opportunity cost I think is too high here even if it somehow works out given that this sort of thing cannot really reinvent SRK which is what he needs more than anything else. So he’s going from one hyped project to another but what’s the plan? We can see what Salman’s plan is at the moment and it’s a sound one. He’ll of course have to be careful about his scripts which is always a question with him but he’s otherwise sitting pretty. No questions about Aamir either. With SRK it’s not the same. It’s Ra 1 and Don, then there’s the Yash Chopra film which is unlikely to be ‘revolutionary’ (!). Also note how Aamir’s or Salman’s films don’t depend on their looking the ‘coolest’. The audience has basically accepted their physicality (given their age) and they just choose the films that work for them. Now this would work for SRK if he still centered on romance but upgraded it. For a long time I’ve felt he should have done this but because he’s never really believed in romance by his own confession he’s been happy to walk away from it and do it from time to time only as an ‘obvious’ choice. But this way there’s no real reinvention. I thought the Bhardwaj project being an Ek Duje Ke Liye kind of deal was a good one for him but that doesn’t seem to be happening at the moment. With Ra 1 and Don he has to pass a certain coolness quotient which is just about impossible for a star of his age to do in India or in Bollywood. I personally think even Hrithik has waited far too long for this Krrish. There will be a gap of at least 6 years with the last one. But at least this franchise has a very strong box office track record and has been part of Hrithik’s essential narrative for a while. Getting into this genre at the age of 45 and pulling it off very successfully is hard anywhere in the world. Robot doesn’t count because first of all it’s Rajni and then it’s Shankar. With that sort of team anything can happen!
In any case I eagerly await just how honest the Nahatas and Tarans of the trade and then sites like BOI will be on Ra 1. For every other film the ‘budget’ always seems to be a huge issue. 10 crore or 30 crore films even when they do reasonably well never seem to clear the hurdle. Let’s see if the same standards are applied for a 130 crore film. But one can predict how this goes if the film works to any degree. Let’s say it makes 100 crores. Here’s how it will go — oh the satellite rights were sold for 70 crores, then the audio rights went for 20. The film made just had to make 50-60 crores beyond this and it made 100. It’s a blockbuster!
“I have a feeling Ra.One is going to be SRK’s Toofan/Ajooba. I don’t wish ill, but this really, every passing day, seems like a very risky gamble. The financials of this film just don’t feel right.”—agree Ab zee
But still, Ready has outgrossed that so-called hit of SRK called MNIK (a movie sold at over 100cr) within 8 days. But then when it comes to SRK, it’s more a question of lowering of standards rather anything else about him.
Satyam… after 2 superhits …. and among the top grossers… y abhishek was still considerd a struggler…. in today’s scenario i understand coz he delivered few flops… but that struggler tag should have been lifted long long ago…
no one considered him a struggler after he became successful. It was really his year in ’05 and was seen as such. India Today had a cover story called ‘The Rising Prince’ on him. Guru cemented this in early ’07 but since then he’s had mostly a rough ride with the high-points not being high enough and some of the lows being rather too low. But no saw him as a struggler after 2004. For anyone who had eyes and ears that is!
some of the numbers here are such bull! RNBDJ at 85, MNIK at 75, G3 at 108 and D2 at 80 only?! MNIK is in my estimation probably overstated by 10 crores. G3 is overstated by 10-12 crores. RNBDJ by 5-8 crores. D2 is underreported by 3-5 crores.
And Ready being an all time blockbuster is bull too. Just crossing 100 crores doesn’t give a film this status!
B.O. update: ‘Ready’ dominates, ‘BBB’ leads amongst new releases
– By Taran Adarsh, June 18, 2011 – 07:56 IST
READY continued to dominate the box-office for the third week in a row. Although the screen count has reduced and so has the number of shows at cineplexes [thanks to the multiple releases this Friday], READY is expected to dominate the marketplace by grossing decent figures in its third weekend … Amongst new releases, BIN BULAYE BARAATI, which has had an extensive release at single screens, has opened very well in North India specifically. In fact, the film has overpowered all other films [except READY] in these markets … BHEJA FRY 2 was expected to dominate the scenario, since the first part is still fresh in the minds of the viewers. But the opening response has been dull [15% to 20%]. Ditto for ALWAYS KABHI KABHI, which has opened to a 10% to 15% response … BHINDI BAAZAAR INC. and CYCLE KICK have started on a poor note, although BHINDI BAAZAAR INC. has chances of improving over the weekend.
“Green Lantern” falls short at box office
Sun Jun 19, 12:37 pm ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The costly superhero movie “Green Lantern” flickered at the weekend box office in North America, while “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” exceeded low-ball forecasts.
According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, “Green Lantern” earned about $52.7 million — at the lower end of expectations — during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada.
The Warner Bros. 3-D release will need to make up ground overseas to recoup its reported $200 million production budget and its $125 million worldwide marketing tab. The studio said those numbers were too high, but declined to give its own figures.
Ideally, the picture would have opened to about $55 million, said Dan Fellman, the president of domestic theatrical distribution at the Time Warner Inc unit. But it was too early to get an accurate picture of its prospects, he added.
Critics mauled the picture, which stars Ryan Reynolds as an intergalactic space cop. The relatively obscure character originated in a DC Comics book, and is the latest superhero to invade theaters in recent weeks following “Thor” ($65 million opening) and a fifth “X-Men” movie ($55 million).
Somewhat ominously for the 3-D fad, just 45 percent of the “Green Lantern” haul came from engagements where moviegoers paid a premium for the extra dimension. Big movies usually do about 60 percent of their business in 3-D. But the novelty has faded in recent months as moviegoers question the merit of paying more for an experience often considered underwhelming. 3-D accounted for 55 percent of the opening tally for “Thor,” and 46 percent for the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel.
CARREY COLLIDES WITH “CARS 2”
Jim Carrey’s family comedy “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” came in at No. 3 with $18.2 million, exceeding the diminished $10 million to $15 million expectations of its distributor, 20th Century Fox.
The News Corp unit was confident about the long-term prospects for its $55 million movie, citing strong exit polls. On the other hand “Penguins” has just a few more days to attract families before they all line up for Pixar Animation’s “Cars 2” sequel beginning June 24.
The film, based on a 1938 children’s book, stars Carrey as a divorced dad who reconnects with his children with the improbable help of a half-dozen penguins who run amok through his Manhattan apartment and across the city. Critics also gave it the thumbs down.
Carrey has not starred in a major hit since “Bruce Almighty” in 2003. His last live-action wide release, “Yes Man,” also opened to about $18 million in 1998; the comedy finished up with $98 million domestically, but production costs alone were about $70 million.
Last weekend’s champion, “Super 8,” slipped to No. 2 with $21.3 million. The sci-fi mystery was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.
Fox’s “X-Men: First Class” fell two places to No. 4 with $11.5 million, followed by Warner Bros.’ “The Hangover: Part II” with $9.6 million, also down two places.
While summer is the most lucrative season for the studios, the influx of sequels and comic-book adaptations has not helped business recover from a sluggish start to the year. Ticket sales so far in 2011 stand at $4.6 billion, down 7.7 percent from the year-ago period. The drop would be even steeper without higher ticket prices since the number of tickets sold is down almost 12 percent.
Jim Carrey has had two major hits in “A Christmas Carol” and “Horton Hears a Who”. Yes they were not ‘live action’ films but they still were solid major hits if you count the overseas and domestic total. Carrey has been in a slump but this sort of slump i’d take. Eddie Murphy has been in a epic freefall. I have to hand it to Adam Sandler, he has been doing dumb comedies and still dishing out 100mill from them for over a decade now!!
Ready had another huge weekend as it grossed around 8.25 crore nett in its third weekend. The approx breakdown was 1.75 crore nett on Friday, 2.50 crore nett on Saturday and 4 crore nett on Sunday. It is third highest figure for third weekend after Three Idiots and Dabangg but both of those films had no competition from other releases.
The film has now collected nearly 110 crore nett in 17 days. The film is now in fourth place as far all India lifetime nett collections go.
By the end of the third week it should be near the 115 crore nett mark of Ghajini which is third biggest nett grosser ever.
This week will see major competition in the form of Double Dhamaal so collections of Ready will drop but even still it should go past the 120 crore nett mark for an approx 122 crore nett lifetime finish.
Box Office: Badrinath (Telugu) displaces Salman Khan’s Ready on top of Indian box office; Bin Bulaye Baraati wins among new releases
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Badrinath may be a site off former Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarkhand) but it is also the title of the Telugu movie which has the highest net collections for the past week in India.
At around 30+ crores, the telugu film has higher net collections than Ready’s net collection , the Salman Khan starrer, which is itself a remake of Telugu film starring Ram and Genelia.
Ready had a 2nd week totalling its lifelong collections towards 90 crore mark so far. Occupancies in multiplexes were down to mid-30% range but overall screening volumes remained high.
Among new releases, the Shahrukh Khan produced Always Kabhi Kabhi had a dismal start. Cycle Kick was poor, while Bheja Fry 2 failed to connect and Bin Bulaye Baraati at about 2 crores off less than 500 screens, had a good opening day haul in north india single screens.
Hollywood release X-Men had a unremarkable week for this edition in India.
On skipping a generation but also not being connected to the history in a very immediate sense I too have made a similar point on Bbuddah and on Bachchan’s blog. This is why despite all my optimism ultimately I am not certain about how Bbuddah opens. And again this 10 crore film is going to be profitable any which way but I am more interested in the level of audience participation. Have also always said that Bachchan could still have been the biggest box office force had he planned things a bit differently. But it must also be added that he is too gifted a star-actor to be reduced to a Rajni-like movie event once every few years. In other words he made many mistakes but even in the ideal world I wouldn’t want him to do glorified and/or successful versions of Lal Badshah all the time. There was certainly a way to find a balance between his extreme and the latter scenario but even a balance would have resulted in significant depletion of the box office. Because things change with time. The generation is not the same. To overcome this you have to become like Rajni and stage a massively hyped ‘event’ of a film every couple of years. You appear rarely and the hype works and everyone shows up. Any other way and you’re still competing with the present and the demographics just aren’t on your side. So even as Bachhan has made countless errors of judgment it is also important not to be idealistic about the other possibilities. Of course it’s another matter that his transcendence cannot be measured only in box office terms either.
I understand IBOS position of TMK – flop.
IBOS should understand that there can only be one Amitabh Bachchcan.
Throwing mud on superstars like Akshay Kumar wont help IBOS.
I agree with the article.Amitabh was forced into doing mohabbatein because he was bankrupt at that time in 2000 with 90 crore debt.
ABCL made losses.So he asked yash chopra to give him a film and he gave a negative role in a film with srk.Though it was a charceter role it can be said as a multistarrer because Amitabh was still popular at that time.
And to clear the debt he acted in every role he was offered.And that depleted his image as the biggest superstar.He got out of debts by 2022.But had to act till 2004 to make enough money.Endorsements on tv also helped.But he chose not to retire and continued even after that.
One of the reasons could be that Amitabh wanted to remain relevant in the industry to help his son Abhishek’s career.He worked with film makers who made films with Abhishek.He even acted in rgv ki aag as babban,knowing well that it wont be well received.
He almost became an anupam kher in this period.
I think he should have maintained exclusivity from 2005-6 onwards.
Acting in films only which had him in central role.Preferably action,suspense films.
He could have been a much bigger star.
I think BHTB will be a success.Since 2009 there is some kind of resurgence from bachchan.I hope he connects well with this generation.
Monday 20th June 2011 12.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Bheja Fry 2 had a good weekend of around 6.50-6.60 crore nett. However the problem was that it showed little growth over the weekend.
Friday was 2 crore nett, Saturday was 2.15 crore nett and Sunday was 2.40 crore nett. This may mean it will show drops on the weekdays.
Small films need good reviews as they are targeted towards a small segment of the audience which is swayed by reviews. Most small film makers make sure they get good reviews as that is only hope for box office success but here it does not seem to be the case.
The film could have had a near 8 crore weekend if it had growth which is normally associated with these type of films but still even a 6.50 crore is a good result as it is more than the whole first week business of films like Chalo Dilli, Pyaar Ka Punchnama, Shaitan etc
READY Second v Third Weekend: CP Berar CI Rajasthan
Monday 20th June 2011 09.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Ready continues huge run in CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan in its second week. Below are the third weekend figures with second weekend in brackets in CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan. (All figures in lakhs)
Saw Ready yesterday. Maybe I was in a good mood, since I actually enjoyed a fair bit. It was like MPK meets HAHK all done by David Dhawan. Most the audience seem to enjoy it. The story is pretty silly – what I did like was how the film does kind of wrap up Salman’s career, there are moments when you feel like your watching MPK (a girl enters into the family and usual “resistance” early on), the whole family theme is resonant throughout (HAHK, HSSH) and then the action gives light to his recent successes like Dabangg. Songs are nice.
Just a one time watch, nothing special though after seeing it i am not surprised at its success.
You would be surprised but the local hoardings of Ready have the tagline HAHK and MPK meets Wanted and Dabanng! Are you handling the publicity of Ready Jay?
Tuesday 21st June 2011 08.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Ready had a massive second week of 32.75 crore nett approx. The two week distributor share is a huge 57 crore approx. Below is the second week territorial breakdown of the film.
Workaholic Salman
By Taran Adarsh, June 21, 2011 – 08:54 IST
With DABANGG and READY proving Blockbusters, everyone’s eyeing the next big release of Salman Khan, BODYGUARD, which is slated for release this Eid. DABANGG had a dream run during Eid last year and BODYGUARD is expected to surpass those figures, given the fact that Salman is going through the best phase after two mega-hits. In fact, this writer strongly feels that BODYGUARD will beat the opening weekend numbers of DABANGG and READY by a huge margin, also because it’s a 5-day weekend this time [BODYGUARD is slated for release on a Wednesday].
While on Salman and BODYGUARD, there’s talk that the first theatrical trailer of this film will be launched with CHILLAR PARTY [which Salman co-produces with Ronnie Screwvala of UTV] on 8 July. But that’s incorrect. In fact, neither the first look poster nor the first theatrical trailer of BODYGUARD is ready, as of now.
In the meantime, Salman will be skipping the coveted IIFA Awards, being held in Toronto this year. Initially, Salman was supposed to participate at the IIFA event since CHILLAR PARTY will be screened for an august gathering at IIFA. But travelling to Canada and back will throw the ongoing shooting schedule of BODYGUARD out of gear. Since BODYGUARD is racing towards completion and also because it has to meet the deadline [Eid release], Salman has decided to skip the IIFA Awards this year.
While on CHILLAR PARTY, top politician Ambika Soni will be watching the film this evening [Tuesday] in Delhi. Salman is expected to fly to Delhi and then return to the shooting location after meeting her.
The general feeling amongst several film-makers is, meri film SHOLAY hain, baaki sabhi chhole hain. We tend to under-estimate the opponent. We tend to believe that the viewer is waiting with bated breath to watch our film and is just not interested in watching the opponent’s film. It’s impossible for the common man to watch 3/4/5 films in a single week due to budget and time constraints. Besides, there’s ample entertainment on television these days, so luring viewers to movie halls is getting tougher by the day.
Thursday 23rd June 2010 08.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
There is a huge clash on 1st July with Delhi Belly, Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap and Transformers 3 but there will be no clash on 9th September where Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Mausam and Rockstar were expected to come together as per some reports in the trade.
At the prestent time Mere Brother Ki Dulhan with Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif is expected on 9th September.
Mausam with Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor is expected on 16th September while Rockstar with Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri is expected on 7th October.
SATYAMSHOT 
June 17, 2011 at 9:16 AM
Ready Still Tops As New Releases Open To Dull Houses
Friday 17th June 2010 12.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Ready still leads the box office race in its third week as it got a 30-35% response at the start of its third week at multiplexes. The film has around 30-40% less volume of shows at multiplexes then last week.
Bheja Fry 2 and Always Kabhi Kabhi were around the 15-20% mark with Bheja Fry 2 having more shows so should show better overall collections.
Bin Bulaye Baraati was 50-60% at some multiplexes in the North but this is because it has been released at so few multiplexes and even those multiplexes that have released the film haven given it just 2-3 shows. The film is dependent on single screens and most of these will start shows at 12 noon.
All the new releases are dependent on word of mouth and if they don’t find an audience, it will mean a huge jump in business for Ready on Saturday and Sunday like last week.
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June 17, 2011 at 9:17 AM
Ready At 101.50 Crore Nett After Two Weeks
Friday 17th June 2010 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Ready crossed the 100 crore nett mark on its 14th day making it the fifth film to go over 100 crore nett.
The collections now stand at around 101.50 crore nett in two weeks as the second week added 32.25 crore nett as per early estimates. This is the third highest collection ever for week two. Three Idiots did 56 crore nett and Dabangg was 36 crore nett while Golmaal 3 did 32 crore nett.
The film did see a drop on Thursday as compared to the other days and now it remains to be seen where Friday comes in at as the third week of the film has lost more screen space than the second week.
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June 17, 2011 at 9:25 AM
Taran has given Bhindi Bazaar Inc a good review. A poor one to both Bheja Fry 2 and SRK’s Always Kabhi Kabhi.
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June 17, 2011 at 11:28 AM
Movie that have crossed magical 100 crore:
3 idiot
Dabang
Ghajini
Golmaal 3
Ready
What common in all this is 1: full entertainment(paisa vasool) 2: 1 big Star and 3: having free run in box-office without any substantial competition.
Regarding Script(Dabang,ready and golmaal 3) shown that weak scripts can also be big grosser
So in future director,producer is well advise to keep this 3 imp point in mind ,while targeting a 100 crore grosser.
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June 17, 2011 at 11:47 AM
G3 didn’t do 100 crores, it was around 90 crores. Rajneeti too was in this range or a bit over. So between these and Ghajini there is a 20-25 crore gap which is important. Of course no other film has even done what G3 and Rajneeti did with or without big stars.
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June 17, 2011 at 11:58 AM
Note how all of these films are rooted efforts (haven’t seen G3 though). Sometimes debased ones for sure but nonetheless ‘universal’ films and this is the all important category you’ve missed. the box office can only be maximized with films that have appeal across the board for one reason or another. Which is why the purely multiplex film can never hit the highest benchmarks.
How remarkably the tide has turned in some years now. In fact one could posit 2005 as the point when things changed for good. That year the biggest grossers were BnB and No Entry. In ’06 you had Krrish, D2 (not very rooted in the obvious ways but an exceptional star cast and the story at the heart of it was a fairly familiar one), Fanaa, LRM, RDB (this last didn’t do much in smaller centers but was nonetheless a rooted urban film), in ’07 you had OSO on top (SRK turning to the more masala Karz paradigm.. in fact even in ’04 MHN was pointing in this direction) and then some of the comedies from Akshay’s to Partner. and of course Guru. Even the small films that became big were rooted (CDI and TZP). In ’08 Ghajini above all but SRK then went ‘small-town’ for RNBDJ, in ’09 3I, APKGK (an old school love story), Wanted though LAK was the exception this year. And we’ve already talked about 2010. In 2011 Ready so far. But even earlier in the decade whenever Hrithik had a Filmkraft film he always did better than the competition because these too were rooted efforts despite all the sci-fi/superhero claptrap.
The point here is that the days of the KHNH kind of film being among the most significant grossers are long long gone. And the biggest proof of this is SRK himself who’s been doing all sorts of other stuff culminating in this years ultimate gamble with Ra 1 and don 2.
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June 21, 2011 at 3:51 AM
I have a feeling Ra.One is going to be SRK’s Toofan/Ajooba. I don’t wish ill, but this really, every passing day, seems like a very risky gamble. The financials of this film just don’t feel right.
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June 21, 2011 at 6:47 AM
agree,
raa one is = toofan
don 2 =jadugaar
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June 21, 2011 at 8:49 AM
to get the financials right the film has to be one of the biggest grossers ever. At a 130 crore budget (according to nahata) even 150 crores can hardly make it a hit. So if the film say opens at 50-60 crores and gets to 100-120 crores that would be fantastic on every score but it would still be a flop! So I find it strange that SRK has gambled so much on a film where the math simply doesn’t work out unless he’s genuinely expecting a 3I gross here. And note how even with 80 crores Dabanng didn’t exceed 140-145 crores. Ready recently with 70 crores will probably get to 120 or maybe slightly more. Ghajini had better trending than this. It doubled it’s initial and some. But all of these models just don’t work for the budget of Ra 1. He needs minimally 170-180 crores here! The thing though is that if you’re going for that sort of historic gross you also need a historic effort. A MeA or Sholay or even Lagaan (would have grossed a lot more than its 30 crores without Gadar.. 40 crores for example is not unreasonable to assume given how historic Gadar was in many parts of North India.. 40 crores in 2001 would have been quite stupendous for a 3 hr 45 min film and of course Gadar at the time was very strong even in major metros… so actually a gross even significantly greater than 40 crores wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.. my own feeling is this film could have done 50 crores or so without Gadar.. much as MP with some tweaking could have been a massive grosser in 2005). Essentially you offer the audience something very ‘new’. The problem is that with Hollywood increasingly being a factor (next up is Transformers), with Robot having gained a great deal of visibility, with SRK also being frankly not the right age for this kind of deal the bar just becomes that much more difficult to reach. Typically you need a younger star doing this sort of thing. So it’s a stiff target for SRK and in addition to all the other issues he’s also doing it with Anubhav Sinha!
But there’s also a strategic problem here. Let’s say the film works to some degree, forget the budget. What’s SRK”s plan beyond this? Obviously he can’t keep doing this sort of stuff. The opportunity cost I think is too high here even if it somehow works out given that this sort of thing cannot really reinvent SRK which is what he needs more than anything else. So he’s going from one hyped project to another but what’s the plan? We can see what Salman’s plan is at the moment and it’s a sound one. He’ll of course have to be careful about his scripts which is always a question with him but he’s otherwise sitting pretty. No questions about Aamir either. With SRK it’s not the same. It’s Ra 1 and Don, then there’s the Yash Chopra film which is unlikely to be ‘revolutionary’ (!). Also note how Aamir’s or Salman’s films don’t depend on their looking the ‘coolest’. The audience has basically accepted their physicality (given their age) and they just choose the films that work for them. Now this would work for SRK if he still centered on romance but upgraded it. For a long time I’ve felt he should have done this but because he’s never really believed in romance by his own confession he’s been happy to walk away from it and do it from time to time only as an ‘obvious’ choice. But this way there’s no real reinvention. I thought the Bhardwaj project being an Ek Duje Ke Liye kind of deal was a good one for him but that doesn’t seem to be happening at the moment. With Ra 1 and Don he has to pass a certain coolness quotient which is just about impossible for a star of his age to do in India or in Bollywood. I personally think even Hrithik has waited far too long for this Krrish. There will be a gap of at least 6 years with the last one. But at least this franchise has a very strong box office track record and has been part of Hrithik’s essential narrative for a while. Getting into this genre at the age of 45 and pulling it off very successfully is hard anywhere in the world. Robot doesn’t count because first of all it’s Rajni and then it’s Shankar. With that sort of team anything can happen!
In any case I eagerly await just how honest the Nahatas and Tarans of the trade and then sites like BOI will be on Ra 1. For every other film the ‘budget’ always seems to be a huge issue. 10 crore or 30 crore films even when they do reasonably well never seem to clear the hurdle. Let’s see if the same standards are applied for a 130 crore film. But one can predict how this goes if the film works to any degree. Let’s say it makes 100 crores. Here’s how it will go — oh the satellite rights were sold for 70 crores, then the audio rights went for 20. The film made just had to make 50-60 crores beyond this and it made 100. It’s a blockbuster!
LOL!
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June 22, 2011 at 4:40 PM
“I have a feeling Ra.One is going to be SRK’s Toofan/Ajooba. I don’t wish ill, but this really, every passing day, seems like a very risky gamble. The financials of this film just don’t feel right.”—agree Ab zee
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June 17, 2011 at 12:01 PM
But still, Ready has outgrossed that so-called hit of SRK called MNIK (a movie sold at over 100cr) within 8 days. But then when it comes to SRK, it’s more a question of lowering of standards rather anything else about him.
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June 17, 2011 at 12:21 PM
Satyam… after 2 superhits …. and among the top grossers… y abhishek was still considerd a struggler…. in today’s scenario i understand coz he delivered few flops… but that struggler tag should have been lifted long long ago…
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June 17, 2011 at 12:23 PM
no one considered him a struggler after he became successful. It was really his year in ’05 and was seen as such. India Today had a cover story called ‘The Rising Prince’ on him. Guru cemented this in early ’07 but since then he’s had mostly a rough ride with the high-points not being high enough and some of the lows being rather too low. But no saw him as a struggler after 2004. For anyone who had eyes and ears that is!
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June 17, 2011 at 12:39 PM
pleased to hear that…
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June 17, 2011 at 12:36 PM
http://www.dhingana.com/video/abhishek-bachchan-s-big-blunders/zoomdekho-T3f-Y_yXYqs/1
i cant abuse on this blog… or i would have beat the sH@@t out of zoom… have a look Satyam
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June 18, 2011 at 12:45 AM
Top 5: ‘Ready’ crosses Rs 100 cr mark, ATBB
some of the numbers here are such bull! RNBDJ at 85, MNIK at 75, G3 at 108 and D2 at 80 only?! MNIK is in my estimation probably overstated by 10 crores. G3 is overstated by 10-12 crores. RNBDJ by 5-8 crores. D2 is underreported by 3-5 crores.
And Ready being an all time blockbuster is bull too. Just crossing 100 crores doesn’t give a film this status!
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June 18, 2011 at 1:45 AM
Agree Ready should NOT be termed ATBB but it will make round 118-120 which is huge.
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June 18, 2011 at 1:54 AM
Oh absolutely… and as I said the other day I am rooting for Salman to get another 100 crores with Bodyguard..
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June 18, 2011 at 12:47 AM
B.O. update: ‘Ready’ dominates, ‘BBB’ leads amongst new releases
– By Taran Adarsh, June 18, 2011 – 07:56 IST
READY continued to dominate the box-office for the third week in a row. Although the screen count has reduced and so has the number of shows at cineplexes [thanks to the multiple releases this Friday], READY is expected to dominate the marketplace by grossing decent figures in its third weekend … Amongst new releases, BIN BULAYE BARAATI, which has had an extensive release at single screens, has opened very well in North India specifically. In fact, the film has overpowered all other films [except READY] in these markets … BHEJA FRY 2 was expected to dominate the scenario, since the first part is still fresh in the minds of the viewers. But the opening response has been dull [15% to 20%]. Ditto for ALWAYS KABHI KABHI, which has opened to a 10% to 15% response … BHINDI BAAZAAR INC. and CYCLE KICK have started on a poor note, although BHINDI BAAZAAR INC. has chances of improving over the weekend.
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June 19, 2011 at 7:57 PM
“Green Lantern” falls short at box office
Sun Jun 19, 12:37 pm ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The costly superhero movie “Green Lantern” flickered at the weekend box office in North America, while “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” exceeded low-ball forecasts.
According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, “Green Lantern” earned about $52.7 million — at the lower end of expectations — during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada.
The Warner Bros. 3-D release will need to make up ground overseas to recoup its reported $200 million production budget and its $125 million worldwide marketing tab. The studio said those numbers were too high, but declined to give its own figures.
Ideally, the picture would have opened to about $55 million, said Dan Fellman, the president of domestic theatrical distribution at the Time Warner Inc unit. But it was too early to get an accurate picture of its prospects, he added.
Critics mauled the picture, which stars Ryan Reynolds as an intergalactic space cop. The relatively obscure character originated in a DC Comics book, and is the latest superhero to invade theaters in recent weeks following “Thor” ($65 million opening) and a fifth “X-Men” movie ($55 million).
Somewhat ominously for the 3-D fad, just 45 percent of the “Green Lantern” haul came from engagements where moviegoers paid a premium for the extra dimension. Big movies usually do about 60 percent of their business in 3-D. But the novelty has faded in recent months as moviegoers question the merit of paying more for an experience often considered underwhelming. 3-D accounted for 55 percent of the opening tally for “Thor,” and 46 percent for the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel.
CARREY COLLIDES WITH “CARS 2”
Jim Carrey’s family comedy “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” came in at No. 3 with $18.2 million, exceeding the diminished $10 million to $15 million expectations of its distributor, 20th Century Fox.
The News Corp unit was confident about the long-term prospects for its $55 million movie, citing strong exit polls. On the other hand “Penguins” has just a few more days to attract families before they all line up for Pixar Animation’s “Cars 2” sequel beginning June 24.
The film, based on a 1938 children’s book, stars Carrey as a divorced dad who reconnects with his children with the improbable help of a half-dozen penguins who run amok through his Manhattan apartment and across the city. Critics also gave it the thumbs down.
Carrey has not starred in a major hit since “Bruce Almighty” in 2003. His last live-action wide release, “Yes Man,” also opened to about $18 million in 1998; the comedy finished up with $98 million domestically, but production costs alone were about $70 million.
Last weekend’s champion, “Super 8,” slipped to No. 2 with $21.3 million. The sci-fi mystery was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.
Fox’s “X-Men: First Class” fell two places to No. 4 with $11.5 million, followed by Warner Bros.’ “The Hangover: Part II” with $9.6 million, also down two places.
While summer is the most lucrative season for the studios, the influx of sequels and comic-book adaptations has not helped business recover from a sluggish start to the year. Ticket sales so far in 2011 stand at $4.6 billion, down 7.7 percent from the year-ago period. The drop would be even steeper without higher ticket prices since the number of tickets sold is down almost 12 percent.
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June 20, 2011 at 12:09 AM
Jim Carrey has had two major hits in “A Christmas Carol” and “Horton Hears a Who”. Yes they were not ‘live action’ films but they still were solid major hits if you count the overseas and domestic total. Carrey has been in a slump but this sort of slump i’d take. Eddie Murphy has been in a epic freefall. I have to hand it to Adam Sandler, he has been doing dumb comedies and still dishing out 100mill from them for over a decade now!!
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June 20, 2011 at 12:55 AM
Ready Has Huge Third Weekend
Monday 20th June 2011 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Ready had another huge weekend as it grossed around 8.25 crore nett in its third weekend. The approx breakdown was 1.75 crore nett on Friday, 2.50 crore nett on Saturday and 4 crore nett on Sunday. It is third highest figure for third weekend after Three Idiots and Dabangg but both of those films had no competition from other releases.
The film has now collected nearly 110 crore nett in 17 days. The film is now in fourth place as far all India lifetime nett collections go.
By the end of the third week it should be near the 115 crore nett mark of Ghajini which is third biggest nett grosser ever.
This week will see major competition in the form of Double Dhamaal so collections of Ready will drop but even still it should go past the 120 crore nett mark for an approx 122 crore nett lifetime finish.
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June 20, 2011 at 12:56 AM
IBOS have 88 crores in 2 weeks for Ready.
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June 20, 2011 at 12:57 AM
IBOS:
Box Office: Badrinath (Telugu) displaces Salman Khan’s Ready on top of Indian box office; Bin Bulaye Baraati wins among new releases
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Badrinath may be a site off former Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarkhand) but it is also the title of the Telugu movie which has the highest net collections for the past week in India.
At around 30+ crores, the telugu film has higher net collections than Ready’s net collection , the Salman Khan starrer, which is itself a remake of Telugu film starring Ram and Genelia.
Ready had a 2nd week totalling its lifelong collections towards 90 crore mark so far. Occupancies in multiplexes were down to mid-30% range but overall screening volumes remained high.
Among new releases, the Shahrukh Khan produced Always Kabhi Kabhi had a dismal start. Cycle Kick was poor, while Bheja Fry 2 failed to connect and Bin Bulaye Baraati at about 2 crores off less than 500 screens, had a good opening day haul in north india single screens.
Hollywood release X-Men had a unremarkable week for this edition in India.
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June 20, 2011 at 1:13 AM
http://www.ibosnetwork.com/newsmanager/templates/template1.aspx?a=22269&z=4
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June 20, 2011 at 8:39 AM
On skipping a generation but also not being connected to the history in a very immediate sense I too have made a similar point on Bbuddah and on Bachchan’s blog. This is why despite all my optimism ultimately I am not certain about how Bbuddah opens. And again this 10 crore film is going to be profitable any which way but I am more interested in the level of audience participation. Have also always said that Bachchan could still have been the biggest box office force had he planned things a bit differently. But it must also be added that he is too gifted a star-actor to be reduced to a Rajni-like movie event once every few years. In other words he made many mistakes but even in the ideal world I wouldn’t want him to do glorified and/or successful versions of Lal Badshah all the time. There was certainly a way to find a balance between his extreme and the latter scenario but even a balance would have resulted in significant depletion of the box office. Because things change with time. The generation is not the same. To overcome this you have to become like Rajni and stage a massively hyped ‘event’ of a film every couple of years. You appear rarely and the hype works and everyone shows up. Any other way and you’re still competing with the present and the demographics just aren’t on your side. So even as Bachhan has made countless errors of judgment it is also important not to be idealistic about the other possibilities. Of course it’s another matter that his transcendence cannot be measured only in box office terms either.
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June 20, 2011 at 10:15 AM
I understand IBOS position of TMK – flop.
IBOS should understand that there can only be one Amitabh Bachchcan.
Throwing mud on superstars like Akshay Kumar wont help IBOS.
I agree with the article.Amitabh was forced into doing mohabbatein because he was bankrupt at that time in 2000 with 90 crore debt.
ABCL made losses.So he asked yash chopra to give him a film and he gave a negative role in a film with srk.Though it was a charceter role it can be said as a multistarrer because Amitabh was still popular at that time.
And to clear the debt he acted in every role he was offered.And that depleted his image as the biggest superstar.He got out of debts by 2022.But had to act till 2004 to make enough money.Endorsements on tv also helped.But he chose not to retire and continued even after that.
One of the reasons could be that Amitabh wanted to remain relevant in the industry to help his son Abhishek’s career.He worked with film makers who made films with Abhishek.He even acted in rgv ki aag as babban,knowing well that it wont be well received.
He almost became an anupam kher in this period.
I think he should have maintained exclusivity from 2005-6 onwards.
Acting in films only which had him in central role.Preferably action,suspense films.
He could have been a much bigger star.
I think BHTB will be a success.Since 2009 there is some kind of resurgence from bachchan.I hope he connects well with this generation.
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June 20, 2011 at 7:33 AM
Bheja Fry 2 Has Good Weekend
Monday 20th June 2011 12.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Bheja Fry 2 had a good weekend of around 6.50-6.60 crore nett. However the problem was that it showed little growth over the weekend.
Friday was 2 crore nett, Saturday was 2.15 crore nett and Sunday was 2.40 crore nett. This may mean it will show drops on the weekdays.
Small films need good reviews as they are targeted towards a small segment of the audience which is swayed by reviews. Most small film makers make sure they get good reviews as that is only hope for box office success but here it does not seem to be the case.
The film could have had a near 8 crore weekend if it had growth which is normally associated with these type of films but still even a 6.50 crore is a good result as it is more than the whole first week business of films like Chalo Dilli, Pyaar Ka Punchnama, Shaitan etc
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June 20, 2011 at 7:35 AM
READY Second v Third Weekend: CP Berar CI Rajasthan
Monday 20th June 2011 09.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Ready continues huge run in CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan in its second week. Below are the third weekend figures with second weekend in brackets in CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan. (All figures in lakhs)
CP Berar
Friday – 12.93 (28.75)
Saturday – 15.35 (32.56)
Sunday – 26.70 (52.40)
TOTAL – 54.98 (113.71) – 51.65%
CI
Friday – 7.47 (18.14)
Saturday – 10.71 (23.30)
Sunday – 19.00 (40.10)
TOTAL – 37.18 (81.54) – 54.40%
Rajasthan
Friday – 14.53 (26.83)
Saturday – 16.91 (31.38)
Sunday – 30.02 (54.16)
TOTAL – 61.46 (112.37) – 45.31%
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June 20, 2011 at 8:41 AM
Midweek: ‘Ready’ continues to dominate
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June 20, 2011 at 9:33 AM
Saw Ready yesterday. Maybe I was in a good mood, since I actually enjoyed a fair bit. It was like MPK meets HAHK all done by David Dhawan. Most the audience seem to enjoy it. The story is pretty silly – what I did like was how the film does kind of wrap up Salman’s career, there are moments when you feel like your watching MPK (a girl enters into the family and usual “resistance” early on), the whole family theme is resonant throughout (HAHK, HSSH) and then the action gives light to his recent successes like Dabangg. Songs are nice.
Just a one time watch, nothing special though after seeing it i am not surprised at its success.
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June 20, 2011 at 9:45 AM
thanks.. I have yet to check it out but hope to soon..
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June 21, 2011 at 3:45 AM
You would be surprised but the local hoardings of Ready have the tagline HAHK and MPK meets Wanted and Dabanng! Are you handling the publicity of Ready Jay?
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June 21, 2011 at 4:04 AM
LOL maybe I am in the wrong job! But its quite true.
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June 20, 2011 at 11:15 PM
Ready Week Two Territorial Breakdown
Tuesday 21st June 2011 08.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Ready had a massive second week of 32.75 crore nett approx. The two week distributor share is a huge 57 crore approx. Below is the second week territorial breakdown of the film.
Mumbai/Thane – 4.47 crore
Gujarat – 4.39 crore
Saurashtra – 98 lakhs
Maharashtra – 2.03 crore
N Karnataka/Goa – 50 lakhs
Mumbai Circuit – 12.37 crore
Delhi City – 3.12 crore
Delhi/UP – 7.34 crore
East Punjab – 2.74 crore
West Bengal – 1.25 crore
Bihar – 63 lakhs
CP Berar – 1.95 crore
CI – 1.35 crore
Rajasthan – 1.98 crore
Nizam/Andhra – 1.33 crore
Mysore – 91 lakhs
Others – 81 lakhs
TOTAL – 32.68 crore
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June 20, 2011 at 11:50 PM
Workaholic Salman
By Taran Adarsh, June 21, 2011 – 08:54 IST
With DABANGG and READY proving Blockbusters, everyone’s eyeing the next big release of Salman Khan, BODYGUARD, which is slated for release this Eid. DABANGG had a dream run during Eid last year and BODYGUARD is expected to surpass those figures, given the fact that Salman is going through the best phase after two mega-hits. In fact, this writer strongly feels that BODYGUARD will beat the opening weekend numbers of DABANGG and READY by a huge margin, also because it’s a 5-day weekend this time [BODYGUARD is slated for release on a Wednesday].
While on Salman and BODYGUARD, there’s talk that the first theatrical trailer of this film will be launched with CHILLAR PARTY [which Salman co-produces with Ronnie Screwvala of UTV] on 8 July. But that’s incorrect. In fact, neither the first look poster nor the first theatrical trailer of BODYGUARD is ready, as of now.
In the meantime, Salman will be skipping the coveted IIFA Awards, being held in Toronto this year. Initially, Salman was supposed to participate at the IIFA event since CHILLAR PARTY will be screened for an august gathering at IIFA. But travelling to Canada and back will throw the ongoing shooting schedule of BODYGUARD out of gear. Since BODYGUARD is racing towards completion and also because it has to meet the deadline [Eid release], Salman has decided to skip the IIFA Awards this year.
While on CHILLAR PARTY, top politician Ambika Soni will be watching the film this evening [Tuesday] in Delhi. Salman is expected to fly to Delhi and then return to the shooting location after meeting her.
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June 22, 2011 at 4:31 PM
stop this madness…..
The general feeling amongst several film-makers is, meri film SHOLAY hain, baaki sabhi chhole hain. We tend to under-estimate the opponent. We tend to believe that the viewer is waiting with bated breath to watch our film and is just not interested in watching the opponent’s film. It’s impossible for the common man to watch 3/4/5 films in a single week due to budget and time constraints. Besides, there’s ample entertainment on television these days, so luring viewers to movie halls is getting tougher by the day.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/business_talk/index.html
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June 23, 2011 at 12:16 AM
Thursday 23rd June 2010 08.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
There is a huge clash on 1st July with Delhi Belly, Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap and Transformers 3 but there will be no clash on 9th September where Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Mausam and Rockstar were expected to come together as per some reports in the trade.
At the prestent time Mere Brother Ki Dulhan with Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif is expected on 9th September.
Mausam with Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor is expected on 16th September while Rockstar with Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri is expected on 7th October.
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June 23, 2011 at 12:17 AM
I knew ROCKSTAR would move – it did.
I knew MAUSAM would move – it has
I fully expect MBKD to also shift – lets see
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