A lot was said post-pandemic that the business in cinemas would get affected and that the pre-pandemic phase will never be back again. All the cynics had to eat their words this week. Not just ‘Gadar 2’ and ‘OMG 2’ but even the old films did exceptional business over the weekend.
‘Gadar 2’ took a smashing opening, as expected. In our last week’s edition, we had predicted that it has an outside chance of collecting Rs. 40 Crore on day 1. The Sunny Deol-starrer opened at Rs. 39 Crore. Usually, when films open beyond expectations, they tend to drop on Saturday. In the case of ‘Gadar 2’, it jumped to Rs. 41.50 Crore. Sunday was extraordinary at Rs. 52 Crore.
Monday, August 14, was like a part-holiday of sorts as Tuesday, August 15 was a National Holiday. Hence, collections were expected to be huge after 5:00 pm. But the occupancy was encouraging even for the morning and noon shows. It ended up collecting Rs. 38.50 Crore, which was just Rs. 50 Lakhs less than Friday. And on Independence Day, the film went on an overdrive, collecting Rs. 55.50 Crore. The film faced capacity issues as almost every show in the country was sold out. It had to share shows with ‘OMG 2’ and holdover movies. Or else, it could have collected Rs. 70 Crore in a day. The demand was so huge that some exhibitors were forced to run shows 24 hours a day. This happened for the first time in many theatres in small towns.
And that’s not all. Wednesday was a Holiday only in Mumbai and a select few centres. Yet, it held strongly, collecting Rs. 35 Crore. As a result, its first-week collections are expected to be around Rs. 280-285 Crore. If it jumps yet again in the second weekend, it has chance of breaking ‘Pathaan’s record of Rs. 512.76 Crore.
‘OMG 2’, meanwhile, faced several challenges. It got an ‘A’ certificate and came in front of the monstrous blockbuster, ‘Gadar 2’. It also seemed a bit of an urban film. The expectation was that it’ll open at Rs. 7-8 Crore. However, the film’s first-day earnings were Rs. 9.25 Crore. The collections jumped to Rs. 13.25 Crore and Rs. 16 Crore on Saturday and Sunday respectively. On Monday, it collected Rs. 11 crores, which was more than Friday’s earnings. And on Independence Day, the film earned as much as Rs. 16.75 Crore. On Wednesday, the collections were around Rs. 7 Crore. Its first week collections will be around Rs. 78 Crore. If all goes well, it’ll enter the Rs. 100 Crore club by the second weekend or by Monday.
And that’s not all. ‘Jailer’s Hindi version was released in very limited prints. The film’s response was mixed. Yet, it managed to hold very well. There was no space to screen additional shows and some theatres had to play post-midnight and early morning shows of the Rajinikanth starrer as well. It’s also a rare South dubbed film to work in Hindi in 2023, after ‘Kantara’ (2022). The Tamil version has done more than Rs. 200 Crore of business (gross) and brings back Rajinikanth to the top league.
On the other hand, ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ continued to get audiences. It collected Rs. 9.50 Crore in its third weekend. Its lifetime earnings will be in the range of Rs. 140-150 Crore. Also, audiences continued to come for holdover films like ‘Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One’, ‘Oppenheimer’, ‘Barbie’ and ‘Meg 2: The Trench’. After a long time, almost all films were running house full in theatres. Many patrons had to return disappointed when they failed to get a ticket for any film on Sunday.
This week will see the release of ‘Ghoomer’, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Saiyami Kher. Directed by R Balki, it looks like a nice, inspirational sports film. But the buzz is limited and it has gotten fewer screens than expected since ‘Gadar 2’, ‘OMG 2’ and other films are doing exceptional business. It can open around Rs. 1 Crore crore and has an outside chance of earning Rs. 2 Crore as well. If word of mouth is positive, it can see a huge jump on Saturday.
