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Akshay Kumar has had a solid year so far at the box office. Although Salman Khan has automatically catapulted himself to being the biggest star of the year so far (just like he has for the majority of the years since 2010!) there is no denying that Akshay Kumar is currently the second biggest star of 2016, right behind Salman. AIRLIFT released on Republic Day and went on to become a Super Hit, and then his post-IPL release HOUSEFULL 3 became a Hit.
All eyes are now on his next film releasing during the Independence Day period, RUSTOM! What makes the arrival of this film even more important, however, is the clash: Akshay Kumar vs Hritikh Roshan. Two of the biggest stars in Bollywood. It's RUSTOM vs MOHENJO DARO!
All eyes are now on his next film releasing during the Independence Day period, RUSTOM! What makes the arrival of this film even more important, however, is the clash: Akshay Kumar vs Hritikh Roshan. Two of the biggest stars in Bollywood. It's RUSTOM vs MOHENJO DARO!
RUSTOM's theatrical trailer released at the end of June to a positive response. Without a doubt, the response to the theatrical trailer was far more positive than of MOHENJO DARO. The trailer built quite a lot of intrigue amongst viewers, with suspense. After that, the Tere Sang Yaara song became a huge hit.
Since OMG: OH MY GOD in 2012, Akshay Kumar has done many films that have received a great response from many viewers, many of them reality/content based, or him in some sort of patriotic role. Films such as OMG, SPECIAL 26, HOLIDAY, BABY, GABBAR, and AIRLIFT have all found appreciation amongst the audience and have emerged successful at the box office. With the public response to the promos so far, and the fact that the film is produced by Neeraj Pandey (who directed SPECIAL 26 and BABY), it seems as if RUSTOM will be another addition to that list!
The only thing that can cause fear is the director of RUSTOM, Tinu Suresh Desai. The reason being, his last release 1920: LONDON released earlier this year failed at the box office and received a very poor response. Having said that, the lead actor in that film was Sharman Joshi who is not a star, and here in RUSTOM it is Akshay Kumar. Akshay knows which type of scripts work with the audience when doing these type of reality/content based films. Also, it is possible that the director just didn't fare well with the horror genre, but is probably capable of handling a RUSTOM type of film better, especially with some sort of guidance I'm sure from Neeraj Pandey, the acclaimed director.
RUSTOM has created more buzz than MOHENJO DARO, with some now saying (including Indicine) that the film can take a better opening than MOHENJO DARO, something one wouldn't expect given the fact that Akshay has a film about 3-4 times a year whereas Hritikh is having a film after 2 years. KRK has said that the advance booking for both films is not strong (although he said Rustom is slightly ahead), and he has made mention many times of the potentially strong opening RUSTOM will take and how viewers are more excited to see the film than MOHENJO DARO. I feel that RUSTOM will have a better opening than MOHENJO DARO, because of the fact that RUSTOM is carrying more buzz. A lack of a popular heroine has dented the opening of Akshay's several films in this content/reality/patriotic style cinema over the last few years. HOLIDAY had a stronger opening because it had Sonakshi Sinha in it and it felt more commercial. Same with GABBAR, as it had a promoted song of Kareena Kapoor, a more commercial vibe, and a holiday release date. If you look at the other films though, they have all improved upon the opening of the previous film: SPECIAL 26 - 7 crores (2013), BABY - 9.3 crores (2015), AIRLIFT - 12.35 crores (2016, the popular songs probably contributed more to the opening here). I feel that RUSTOM will take a better opening than AIRLIFT, but the opening won't be at the level of HOUSEFULL 3, partly because of the clash and partly because HOUSEFULL 3 was a more commercial film and had the franchise factor.
I feel that the WOM (Word of Mouth) for the film will be fantastic, especially amongst the multiplex audience. Akshay Kumar has said that divorce rates may decrease because of the film. 😆 He has gained the ability to figure out which types of films work with the audience in a big way, and this time too there will likely be huge acceptance from the audience for his film.
These type of Akshay Kumar films usually multiply their opening day by approx. 9 or 10 for lifetime collections:
SPECIAL 26: 7 crores opening day x 9.54 = 66.8 crore lifetime
HOLIDAY: 12.18 crores opening day x 9.23 = 112.45 crore lifetime
BABY: 9.3 crores opening day x 10.28 = 95.56 crore lifetime
AIRLIFT: 12.35 x 10.37 = 128.1 crore lifetime
I expect RUSTOM to follow a similar trend.
(NOTE: I looked at information from a couple of different websites when looking at how many crores the film needs to collect to attain a certain box office verdict, including information from Rohit Jaiswal, similar to how I looked at his information for economics associated with MOHENJO DARO).
My Box Office Predictions for RUSTOM:
Opening Day: 13.5 crores net
Opening 4-Day Weekend: 65 crores net
Lifetime Box Office Collections: 128 crores net
Overall Box Office Verdict: Super Hit
Overall, I feel that RUSTOM will be the winner of the box office clash against MOHENJO DARO!
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