Salman Khan and Eid, an unbeatable combination that usually guaranteed Rs 200 to 300 crore (Rs 2k million -- Rs 3k million) business. And, Eid release date is blocked the day a major star film is launched. There are other few dates in a year that assure a grand opening to a big film paving the way for high business prospects. But, Eid release has a distinct advantage coming as it does after a month of fasting during the pious month of Ramzan during which the Muslims abstain from any form of entertainment and mainly watching films.
This year, the first half has been unpredictably bad when it comes to quality of films and resultant box office performance. No major hits, no big star releases to save the situation. One exception was Hindi Medium which, in recovery to budget respect, can be called a blockbuster.
Salman Khan has had such a huge following at the box office during his second innings which started with his film Wanted, an entertainer from his was a taken. In his last two films, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Rustom, he played an underdog, a simpleton. But, one who rises when challenged.
Playing simpleton was fine, this time, with Tubelight, he stretched it a bit too far deciding to play an imbecile; he tried to replace an eight year old of the original film, Little Boy, on which Tubelight is based! As it turned out, the Salman fans and moviegoers felt cheated and Tubelight is turning out to be the most abused Salman film ever.
The film has been sold at a huge price for all India theatrical rights. The main distributor, NH Studioz, have divided their risk by selling off major circuits retaining only parts of Bombay Circuit. All these distributors stand to incur losses eventually.
The money paying moviegoer has his/her own perception and was not wrong when Tubelight opened to half the patronage compared to earlier Salman+ festival releases.
The opening day collections hovered around Rs 20 crore accounting for the opening weekend of Rs 63.8 crore. The negative reports that the film has generated over first three days, the film is not expected to benefit much from Eid holiday at the box office.
*Bank Chor, which took an opening weekend of Rs 4.34 crore, ended its first week with a total of Rs 7.1 crore.
*Phullu and G Kutta SE have had a disastrous week at the box office.
*Raabta, a convoluted insipid love story added Rs 2.05 crore in its second week to take its two week tally to Rs 22.55 crore.
*Hindi Medium is a super hit vis a vis its making cost. The film continues to pull audience even in its fifth week and adds Rs 3.6 crore to take its five week tally to Rs 63.3 crore.
*Bahubali has collected Rs 1.5 crore in its eighth week taking its eight week total to Rs 500.7 crore.
