Gold(3rd) and SJ(5th) highest opening of the year.

The big clash is nearing between Gold and Satyamev Jayate and its looking a one horse race as multiplex chains are looking to give Gold a 65-70% share of the screens. This gives Satyamev Jayate a huge problem as it may be able to get good occupancy on the holiday for decent collections but on a normal day it will be low occupancy leaving the collections very low due to limited screens.

It will be a similar story at single screens which may collect on the big holiday but are unlikely to collect after that. The film is a mass entertainer but John Abraham has limited pull with masses as has been seen with Rocky Handsome and Force 2 which were similar films.

In fact Gold which does not have the trappings of a mass film could actually open better in the single screens also due to Akshay Kumar though it is more of a multiplex film. There is a huge difference in the stardom of Akshay Kumar and John Abraham as Akshay Kumar can give a far bigger opening in a non action films against a John Abraham action film for masses even in single screens due to face value. .

Akshay Kumar easily scored against Hrithik Roshan on this date when Rustom clashed with Mohenjo Daro a few years back and here Satyamev Jayate is a smaller film and has a weaker cast compared to Mohenjo Daro so it pretty much leaves it with no chance against Gold..

The business is always better in a holiday period so a clash today is always worthwhile in a holiday period so its possible the makers of Satyamev Jayate saw that and decided on the date but its not really a holiday period as the Parsi New Year only helps in parts of the Mumbai circuit so in reality you are just getting one day which is not really worth it.

The other reason can be is that the makers of Satyamev Jayate see it just as a front loaded film so want benefit of the holiday but there most of the Independence Day benefit will be wiped out by the clash as the film will not get enough screens at multiplexes. So despite holiday clashes being a plus for business this one might not come out right as one film is far superior. When equals are involved like a Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shivaay and the clash is over a holiday period then both get better results than what they would had they been solo releases on a non holiday release.

The biggest plus for Satyamev Jayate is the Dilbar song which has had record views before release but it has to taken with a pinch of salt as the numbers are easily inflated. The song is a HIT but not as much as the views indicate.

Gold is in a good position as it will get the screens it needs as this film does not need 4000 screens due to the content being more for multiplexes. The biggest plus for the film is a holiday opening day as on a normal day this film would probably not have been a big opener but now the film will get a huge first day audience and then the hope will be word of mouth can work with that big wider audience.

Not only will Gold take a better opening but its pretty much certain that it will also sustain better which will make it a one side clash. The plus for Satyamev Jayate is the budget but the audience or media does not see that and perception is built on numbers. That is where its important that either you win the initial battle or sustain better. A bit like when a small film Shubh Mangal Saavdhan sustained better than Baadshaho despite a much lower start and it wins the clash despite the lower numbers. This is what Satyamev Jayate has to repeat but it will be a huge surprise if Satyamev Jayate does that looking at the trailer.