Business Still Trails In 2016 Despite Sultan

Sultan has come and gone and lived up to expectations with business set to finish around 300 crore nett but the year is still trailing last year after seven months. The business in the first seven months for Hindi films is less by around 90-95 crore nett from last year with Dishoom the last release of the first seven months still to be accounted for but its unlikely it will cover that much and square things up. This year has seen a Salman Khan starrer and a Shahrukh Khan starrer so far plus an Akshay Kumar brand film which is three big films. Last year was one big Salman Khan film while the Akshay Kumar ones Baby And Gabbar Is Back were not happening films though the latter did fair business eventually. Basically despite a better line up so far in the first seven months the business has still not grown.

The footfalls are down around 6% this year from last year for Hindi films which is probably not a big issue but the the fact they are 22.5% down in the last three years is a big problem. They are down despite the bigger blockbusters like Sultan, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PK getting more footfalls than a blockbuster like Dhoom 3 did a three years back and even more than 3 Idiots got seven years back. Its a bleak scenario and the only way it can change is if the films outside the Khan's festival releases get a large audience to the theatres. A good start would be Akshay Kumar with Rustom and Hrithik Roshan with Mohenja Daro giving the footfalls a real push but its likely the clash will play spoilsport and they will not get the footfalls they would have if they released apart and it makes little difference if they find some appreciation or not as big films like these need at least one solo week to achieve their potential.

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