~~~FAN Reviews & BoxOffice Update 3~~~ DTNote:P94 - Page 9

FAN was the major release this weekend and the biggest release of year so far. Trade expectations weren't too high this time around for the Shah Rukh Khan starrer, because FAN was a niche songless thriller. The film was expected to do business in the range of Rs 140 - 150 crore.

FAN opened well at the box office on Friday and critics too gave the film a thumbs up, calling it one of SRK's best films in a long time. But exhibitors (theatre owners) had a different story to tell. At single-screens, the film took a start but couldn't sustain. At multiplexes, it was expected to show phenomenal growth on Saturday, that did not happen either. Sunday too, the big jump hasn't come.

The end result is, the film has found appreciation only with die-hard fans of the superstar. The neutral audience has instead opted to watch The Jungle Book',  which is now matching the collections of FAN at quite a few multiplexes on Sunday.

Coming to the main point of the article, we expect FAN to collect somewhere around Rs 95 crore at the box office. Like Dilwale last year, FAN is a difficult prediction to make too, because the film could still sustain well on Monday and go on to be a decent grosser. But the trend over the weekend doesn't seem to suggest the film will cross the 100 crore mark. If we don't get it right, it'll only be our second incorrect prediction of the year after Fitoor.