Chennai Express Prediction

The trailer of Chennai Express is out and the film looks like a complete family entertainer with action, comedy, romance and good music. With Balaji postponing the release of their upcoming film Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobara, Shahrukh Khan is set to take centre-stage during the extended Eid weekend starting 8th August.

The festive weekend has been record-breaking, credit for which goes entirely to Salman Khan. It all started with Dabangg in 2010 breaking the previous record of 3 Idiots. A year later, Bodyguard took a earth shattering opening, collecting Rs 21 crore on it's opening day. Last year, Salman successfully completed a Eid hattrick with Yashraj Films' Ek Tha Tiger breaking all previous records with highest single day collections of Rs 32.92 crore. The film eventually went on to collect Rs 100 crores in 5 days!

The year-on-year growth in business is staggering:

• 1. Dabangg (2010) ' 14.5 crore
• 2. Bodyguard (2011) ' 21 crore (44% growth)
• 3. Ek Tha Tiger (2012) ' 32.92 crore (57% growth)

If the trend continues, Chennai Express might come close or even better the opening day collections of ETT, as 8th August marks the end of Ramadan and 9th August is a national holiday for Eid-ul-fitr. Business is likely to pick up after the holiday, on Saturday and Sunday, as the muslim section of the audience come out in numbers to watch the film, as was the case with Ek Tha Tiger last year.

We asked a few distributors, exhibitors and box office enthusiasts who follow the trade closely ' to predict the opening day, opening weekend (4 days) and opening week collections of Chennai Express. Finally, we averaged the numbers out.

• 8th August, Thursday ' 25 crore (opening day)
• 9th August, Friday ' 29 crores (national holiday)
• 10th August, Saturday ' 18 crores
• 11th August, Sunday ' 26 crores (Holiday)
• Extended 4 day Weekend ' 98 crores
• First Week (7 days) ' 132 crores

Note: Chennai Express is likely to release on 3400+ screens across the country.