My Box Office Predictions for Airlift and Kya Kool Hain Hum 3

Hello everyone! This might be my last prediction for a while as I will be leaving Canada for 2 months to go to India for vacation!

I recently read someone online say, "Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 is a quick cash grab type of film", something along the lines of that, and I agree with that statement. In my opinion, many people who watch the film may find the film to be bakwaas, but goal for the makers will be achieved as the money will already be in their pocket. The film will attract the masses and young adults. The film's brand is already popular as the first two parts in the series were successful at the box office. Riteish Deshmukh is not in this third part as he has toned down his sex-comedy films image he had from around '03-'05 (even in Grand Masti his toned-down image was visible as he didn't always look comfortable during some scenes in the film). The makers must have decided that to replace Riteish in KKHH3, they should just get another one from the Masti trio and brought in Aftab. KKHH3 seems to have been made with comparatively less effort/promotion than the second part in the series which was promoted more and seemed to have been made with some more effort, also because it came 7 years after the first part. KKHH3 seems like it has been made only for intention of the makers generating some good profit out of it, nothing more. The film will be safe at the box office, but may not generate huge profits because according to Indicine, the film needs collect around 65-70 crores in India to recover costs, which is achievable but given the clash with Akshay's Airlift, it will be hard to collect a lot more than 65-70 crores.

Akshay Kumar's Airlift is one of those films that will get a very strong WOM (Word of Mouth) from those who watch the film, especially amongst the multiplex/class audience. The opening of the film won't be great as there are no hardcore commercial ingredients, no massy chartbuster song, no popular heroine, etc but given the fact that it's an Akshay film, the opening won't be bad and will be decent/good at least.

As we saw with the Bajirao Mastani/Dilwale clash, the film that has better WOM/public feedback will be the winner of the clash at the box office. Bajirao Mastani won, and in this case, Airlift will win. Multiplexes generate more revenues than single screens, and the benefit for BM was the strong WOM it had from the multiplex audience, and the same case will happen here as the multiplex audience is bound to appreciate Airlift more than KKHH3.

With that being said, the clash will make a dent in Airlift's lifetime collection nonetheless. Akshay's similar type Republic Day film last year BABY finished with only 90+ crores lifetime collections, and this time with a clash, Airflift may gross even less than BABY. According to Indicine, Airlift also needs to collect around 65-70 crores in India to recover costs, and therefore, the film may generate just a small amount of profit for the makers.

On Republic Day (Tuesday, Jan 26), both films will get the holiday benefit at the box office, and Airlift's benefit will be more due to the strong public appreciation/reports the film will carry, especially amongst the multiplex audience.

BOI has hinted that KKHH3 could get a better opening than Airflift. I also feel that this is possible, especially when looking at the fact that a similar film as KKHH3 (Grand Masti) took a 12 crore opening whereas a similar to Airlift (Baby) took a 9 crore opening. Another fact though is that Akshay Kumar is a much bigger star than Aftab and Tushar combined. It could be a case where KKHH3 takes a better opening than Airlift on Friday morning, but Airlift shows a lift in collections (multiplex films tend to show growth quicker) on Friday evening/night while KKHH3 takes a drop (which does sometimes happen with mass films, especially if WOM is Mixed or less as looks to be the case for KKHH3). The opening day collection of both films will be very close to each other.

My Box Office Predictions for Airlift:

Opening Day: 8.75 crores net

Opening Weekend: 35+ crores net

Lifetime Collections: 85+ crores net

Overall Box Office Verdict: Above Average

My Box Office Predictions for Kya Kool Hai Hum 3:

Opening Day: 10.5 crores net

Opening Weekend: 30+ crores net

Lifetime Collections: 65+ crores net

Overall Box Office Verdict: Average

P.S. your predictions are always interesting to read, thanks for writing them 👍🏼

I loved Airlift trailer

Based on real incident.I hope it does well