Box office analysis..

First weekend performance of latest release

No new film was released over the weekend gone by.

Last week's movies

No new film was released in the last fortnight.

From the past

Though not excellent, JODHAA AKBAR has still managed to do reasonably well at the box office in it's second week. It was always crucial for this Hrithik-Ash starrer to stay afloat in week two since the first week was just about good and not extra ordinary. Any major fall over it's first week's collections would have been catastrophic but UTV and Ashutosh Gowariker can now afford to take it a little easy.

In it's second week, JODHAA AKBAR managed to earn another 14 crores which by no means is great but still decent enough to ensure that the film's performance isn't termed as a crash. Yes, the film has taken less than industry standard of 50% fall (first week of JODHAA AKBAR was close to 25 crores) but still this won't be termed as a great. This is because a) The film was released at a very high number of prints and hence 25 crores by itself was somewhat below expectations and b) There was no film released either along with JODHAA AKBAR or a week after it's release. A clean run like this is seldom enjoyed by any film, whether big or small, hence one expected JODHAA AKBAR to have fared a little better.

Still, leaving aside these factors, the fact remains that JODHAA AKBAR can now be termed as a success story. JODHAA AKBAR continues to be super strong in Mumbai where it earned another 3.25 crores. Delhi was decent at 1.25 crores while Ahmedabad and Bangalore were quite good at 65 lakhs and 70 lakhs respectively.

There may still be a question mark on declaring whether this success is big or small, at least when it comes to theatrical revenue though. Just like the second week, collections in third week would be monitored closely too since if the film manages to remain as stable as the second week (there is no new film in the running this week too), JODHAA AKBAR would earn itself a clear HIT tag since a 50 crores total would be a given. However, if it crashes in the third week (which seems highly unlikely in the current times), JODHAA AKBAR would have to be content with a lesser classification.

SUPERSTAR ends it's limited run in 3 weeks as it bows out after just 10 lakhs being added to it's total. Failing to touch even 2.5 crores mark, the film is a major disappointment and a forgotten affair. On the other hand MITHYA showed maximum resilience amongst all the films in the running and fell by mere 25%. Collecting another 80 lakhs odd, the film extended it's collections to close to 5 crore and can now be termed as an above average success. Though the film was just about decent in Mumbai, it is terrific in Delhi where it added 21 lakhs to it's total.

After BHEJA FRY, the team of Rajat Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak have yet another success to it's name. Meanwhile Neha Dhupia too gets new recognition for herself through a film that shows her in a different light. On the other hands no words are enough to describe the performance of Ranvir Shorey which has won him new fans and admirers both within and outside the industry.

SUNDAY is holding well even during it's exit. In it's 5th week, it showed less than 50% fall and managed to get 35 lakhs added to it's total. For a film which is en route to an exit from the theaters and has it's DVDs out on stands, any theatrical revenue is a bonus and distributors would indeed be smiling that at 22 crores the film has managed to garner an average status for itself.

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR - Now this film is continuing to amaze week after week! With lack of any major competition around barring JODHAA AKBAR, this Aamir Khan film showed an upward trend and saw an upswing (~10%) in collections. Another 70 lakhs in it's kitty means that TAARE ZAMEEN PAR is just a few lakhs short of the envious 60 crores mark. A blockbuster, one waits to see the stupendous response that the DVDs are expected to meet with once they arrive on the stands.

WELCOME too isn't giving it up so easily and even though it has been more than a fortnight since it's DVDs arrived on stands, it continues to do good business at theaters. 20 lakhs more came in for the film in it's 10th week which has brought the total closer to 76 crores. Now that's huge..really huge!

In the future

BLACK & WHITE is the sole release over this weekend. A film where Subhash Ghai has experimented while keeping commercial elements in mind, it is expected to gather appreciation but not so much in terms of box office rewards. The film is bound to take a very slow start though one doesn't see a terrific follow up in weeks to come considering RACE is just a fortnight away.