Box Office Analysis

First weekend performance of latest release

'Bluffmaster' was the only release of the week but that didn't result in bumper collections across the nation. The movie opened to good collections but not excellent as one was expecting from this Abhishek Bachchan starrer. The movie has fetched mixed reviews but Abhishek's performance has gone unscathed which is a positive sign. Ditto for audience that hasn't gone gaga over the movie but hasn't hated it either. In the end, 'Bluffmaster' has turned out to be an average movie that was neither panned nor hailed as one of the best flicks to finish off an eventful 2005. HIT status for the movie looks distant and eventually 'Bluffmaster' may settle down as an average earner.

Last week's movies

After 'Deewane Huye Paagal', 'Ek Ajnabee' turned out to be another shocker of the year with a below par opening. Equally surprising was the fact that director Apoorva Lakhia came out in open within days after the movie's release to admit that it hadn't fared as expected. After the 1st week collections have been out, the worst fears have come true as 'Ek Ajnabee' has indeed fetched one of the poorest openings weeks for an Amitabh starrer. With just a 5 crore first week, it is next only to Romesh Sharma's 'Dil Jo Bhi Kahey' [that was a launch pad of Karan Sharma] with even moderately publicized 'Viruddh' faring better at the box office. One is baffled to look at the final results for 'Ek Ajnabee' as this well made movie was liked by those who saw it! Now it is near to impossible for the movie to cross the 10 crore mark in the final run.

In contrast widely criticized 'Neal N Nikki' had a better opening than 'Ek Ajnabee' across most of the centers. It was released at almost half the screens as 'Ek Ajnabee' but still managed to cross the 4 crore mark. What has not gone in its favor is widespread good word of mouth [that is otherwise a trend with a Yash Raj film] and hence it would have to eventually settle down as an average grosser at least. This small movie with low production costs may eventually qualify as a fare success for Arjun Sablok, Uday Chopra and Tanisha but still YRF may require rethinking their strategy on movies from their production house going forward.

As expected 'Kalyug' did okay in the face of strong competition from 'Ek Ajnabee' and 'Neal N Nikki' and still managed to hold on by the time the first week came to an end. While the weekend primarily belonged to the other two movies, for the rest of the week it was 'Kalyug' that brought in good word of mouth hence resulting in steady collections. This Mukesh Bhatt film crossed the 3 crore mark which is good for a movie that marked the launch of three newcomers [Kunal Khemu, Smiley Suri, Deepal Shaw]. With Bhatts' production house known for making films in reasonable budgets, 'Kalyug' would eventually settle down as at least an average grosser. Kunal Khemu was launched in a low profile manner unlike a Mohit Ahlawat or a Randeep Hooda but was still noticed in a big way by the audience, which proves yet again that good work never fails to be noticed.

From the past

Out of all movies released in 2005, Home Delivery took one of the biggest falls in its second week with hardly any collections to talk about. The movie has been rejected all over with final collections failing to come near to 1.5 crore mark. Mr. Ya Miss too wasn't far behind by just about managing collections in the tune of 2 crore. 'Apaharan' too took a slide but still its good first week means that it is a good success for Prakash Jha-Ajay Devgan-Nana Patekar. The movie has now collected above 13 crores which means that it should come quite close to 15 crores.

Much publicized 'Deewane Huye Paagal' fell further in its 3rd week and now its publicity too has come to a standstill. With 3rd week collections less than a crore with total collections so far in the tune of a little above 14 crores, it would have to stretch really hard to be able to touch 15 crores mark. For an expensive and much hyped movie like DHP, this doesn't seem sufficient for it to be qualified as a success. Still there shouldn't be any alarm bells for either Akshay or Shahid as both have two movies each [Dosti, Family, VLHTA, Shikhar] lined up in quick succession.

In the future

With Family being (thankfully!) postponed to a later date, there is much more breathing space for both 'Dosti' and 'Vaah ! Life Ho To Aisi' that release this week. With a strong starcast, good music, consistent record by director Suneel Darshan and good promotion, 'Dosti' should take a good start all over that includes A, B as well as C centers, With a theme around human relationships that more often than not works with the family audience, the movie should do well at the box office.

VLHTA could go either ways and there is nothing much that can be predicted about this heavy-on-special-effects flick. All depends upon the audience mood in a particular weekend to decide its fortunes. Publicity of VLHTA has picked up off late and if the movie hits off well with the children, it could turn out to be a dark horse