the BOmbay report (2016): 15th Jan–21st Jan

It is week 3 of a Box-Office experiment that attempts to understand Box-Office beyond the numbers, and hopes to arrive at the less tangible, but perhaps more genuine, indicator of how well-liked and well-received any film is/was.

We will be taking into account all the screens in the Mumbai region, inclusive of Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivali as well. The films will be assigned points based on an algorithm that takes into account parameters such as- a) how many screens did the film open on; b) the capacities of these screens; c) the occupancy in comparison to the capacity; d) daily sustenance/growth/drop in the occupancy; e) change in the number of screens in successive weeks; f) change in capacities; g) occupancy in relation to changed number of days and screens; h) occupancy in relation to newer and existing releases; and so on.

These points, the Audience Interest Index (AII), encapsulate buzz, desire to watch translating to actual occupancy and finally acceptability… and that most prestigious of all goals- trending.

 

Top Ten Films In Mumbai (15^th January 2016 – 21^st January 2016) 

A staggering 28 films released in Mumbai this week, of which those in the Marathi language numbered the most with 5 releases, while there were 4 releases each in English, Hindi and Tamil. Of the English releases, The Hateful Eight also released on IMAX screens. Wazir, which had released last week, also expanded to IMAX in its second week. Bhojpuri and Telugu had 3 releases a piece.

With 13 films ending their run, the total number of films playing at the cinemas this week was 44! If you count Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge which resumed screening at Maratha Mandir this week, that number is 45.

More films did not mean more viewers however. The overall AII for this week is 89.69 compared to last week’s 133.62, a drop of 32.87%. With lesser viewers and an incredible amount of new releases, Wazir still remained the number one choice, even if the number was low. In fact many films operated in the middle range this week, so much so that this week’s 15^th ranked film has earned twice as many AII points than last week’s number 10 film.

Honourable mentions then to the Tamil film Rajini Murugan and the Telugu release Nannaku Prematho as both put up impressive AII numbers despite not making it to the top ten.

Rajini Murugan performed the best of all the Tamil releases with 105 AII points, while the Telugu language Nannaku Prematho did even better with 119 AII points.

 

10) ROMANCE COMPLICATED (Gujarati)

• New Release
• AII Points- 132

 

09) CHHOTA BHEEM HIMALAYAN ADVENTURE (Hindi)

• Release Date- 8^th January, 2016
• Weeks Running- 02
• AII Points- 156
• Last Week- 444
• Difference- (-) 64.8%

 

08) THE DANISH GIRL (English)

• New Release
• AII Points- 183

 

07) ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS- THE ROAD CHIP (English)

• New Release
• AII Points- 207

 

06) BAJIRAO MASTANI (Hindi)

• Release Date- 18^th December, 2015
• Weeks Running- 05
• AII Points- 222
• Last Week- 251
• Difference- (-) 11.5%

 

05) THE HATEFUL EIGHT (English)

• New Release
• AII Points- 234

 

04) NATSAMRAT (Marathi)

• Release Date- 01^st January, 2016
• Weeks Running- 03
• AII Points- 354
• Last Week- 806
• Difference- (-) 56.0%

 

03) CHALK N DUSTER (Hindi)

• New Release
• AII Points- 417

 

02) FRIENDS (Marathi)

• New Release
• AII Points- 423

 

01) WAZIR (Hindi)

• Release Date- 08^th January, 2016
• Weeks Running- 02
• AII Points- 482
• Last Week- 1722
• Difference- (-) 72.0%