After a flying start (Rs. 41.50 crore, not Rs. 42.30 crore as mentioned in this column last week) on Wednesday, Bharat dropped to Rs. 28.50 crore on Thursday. The seven days thereafter were as follows: on Friday, it fell down to Rs. 20.25 crore; collections picked up on Saturday (Rs. 25.50 crore) and Sunday (Rs. 26.50 crore) but the jump was not as much as it should’ve been. The India-Australia World Cup cricket match on Sunday was a formidable opposition, of course, but the figure of Saturday (as also of Thursday and Friday) gave an indication that the film was on shaky grounds. The fears started to come true after the five-day weekend as collections came down to single-digit crores: Monday – Rs. 9 crore, Tuesday – Rs. 7.85 crore, Wednesday – Rs. 6.40 crore, Thursday – Rs. 5.50 crore. In this way, while the first 5-day weekend closed at Rs. 142.25 crore, the addition to the kitty during the week days thereafter was only Rs. 28.75 crore. The film’s first 9-day week, therefore, closed at Rs. 171 crore. The film, this week, has the advantage of lack of major opposition. But overall, the film’s business has been a dampener for the trade after Salman starrers like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai, which were all 300-crore-plus films. Little wonder then that shows of Bharat were decreased in multiplexes after the long weekend, and those of De De Pyaar De and a couple of other running films, increased.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (dubbed) and the English original of the same name did fair business in the first week. It opened at Rs. 3.10 crore on Wednesday (Eid). Collections dropped to Rs. 2.10 crore on Thursday. On Friday, the film netted Rs. 2.15 crore. Collections increased to Rs. 3.35 crore on Saturday, and decreased again to Rs. 2.85 crore on Sunday. The 5-day weekend closed at Rs. 13.55 crore. Collections on the weekdays: Monday – Rs. 1.10 crore, Tuesday – Rs. 1 crore; Wednesday – Rs. 0.90 crore, Thursday – Rs. 0.80 crore. In this way, the film netted Rs. 3.80 crore during the weekdays and thereby took its first 9-day week’s total to Rs. 17.35 crore.
Godzilla II – King Of The Monsters (dubbed) and the English original of the same name netted Rs. 2.40 crore in the second weekend, and another Rs. 1.40 crore during the weekdays. In other words, it added Rs. 3.80 crore to its kitty in the second week, thereby taking its 2-week total to Rs. 23.95 crore.
Aladdin (dubbed) and the English original of the same name collected Rs. 3.20 crore in its third weekend, and Rs. 2.10 crore during the week days. That is to say, it added Rs. 5.30 crore to its kitty in the third week, taking its total for 3 weeks to Rs. 49.30 crore.
De De Pyaar De added Rs. 2 crore in the fourth weekend, and another Rs. 1.55 crore during the weekdays. In this way, it added Rs. 3.55 crore to its total, and took its 4-week total to Rs. 91.75 crore.
