Audience Word-of-Mouth in India of 2016 films-list compiled by me!

I had two versions of this article, an older one and a newer updated one. BollyArena liked the older article better and posted that one, but I feel this one (the newer one) has more detail to it and thus, this list looks more accurate. I will be sharing the newer article with you guys here.

I have compiled a list of the audience WOM (Word of Mouth) in India of films released in 2016. Through my collection of data, I used four methods:

1) First day to lifetime collection multiplier: I took the lifetime collection of a film and divided it by the opening day collection. Based on the result, I would give that multiplier a QUALITY rating out of 10. Here's an example:

Airlift:

=Total net gross/First day collection

=123.47 crore/11.12 crore

=11.10 multiplier

11.10 is an EXCELLENT multiplier, and as a quality score out of 10, I gave it a quality rating of 8/10 (Excellent).

Another example:

Housefull 3:

= Total net gross/First day collection

=108.07 crore/15.24 crore

=7.09

7.09 is an AVERAGE multiplier, and as a quality score out of 10, I gave it a quality rating of 5/10 (Average).

Note: I used collections from BOI (Box Office India) for this analysis.

2) First 3-day weekend to lifetime collection multiplier: I took the lifetime collection of each film and divided it by the opening 3-day weekend. In cases where a film had an extended holiday weekend (such as Sultan), I took only the first three days of the film's release for my calculation. I took the division result and divided it by 5 to get a score out of 5, as a film that can multiply it's opening weekend by 5 is an excellent film, a theory Aamir Khan created, and then I calculated the %. The % was then given an equivalent rating out of 10.

Note: I used collections from BOI (Box Office India) for this analysis.

3) BookMyShow user votes: This one is easy to explain. I simply looked at each film's user rating score out of 10 based on votes from the audience.

4) IMDB user ratings: Like BookMyShow, this one is easy to explain. I simply looked at each film's user rating score out of 10 based on votes from the audience. IMDB isn't based on votes from India only, as it is an international database. With that being said, some of the highest grossers in India in recent times such as Dangal, PK, Bajrangi Bhaijaan all had iMDB ratings in the 8+ range, which is excellent. Even 3 Idiots, arguably the best WOM film in India in the last 7 years, has an excellent IMDB rating of 8.4/10. Films that had a huge opening at the box office but collections fell afterwards, have a lower iMDB rating such as Happy New Year (5.2/10) and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (4.8/10). It's safe to say that iMDB ratings are a pretty good reflection of the WOM of a film amongst the multiplex/urban/city audience in India.

I could have used just one of these four methods for my WOM analysis. But each method has its own flaw. The opening day to lifetime multiplier and opening 3-day weekend to lifetime multiplier of a film may be higher than it should be if the film got the benefit of a holiday(s) during its run, which can increase collections regardless of the WOM, although I do feel that ultimately a film will settle where it needs to in terms of lifetime collections depending on how good or bad the film is. A bad film may show jumps in collections during holiday, but then it will also fall harder than normal after that holiday period is done to even things out. BookMyShow ratings could have many fans of the star voting the film a high number, even if the film may not deserve it. Same case with IMDB, and the fact that it is an international database rather than India-only based. Therefore, in order to get an accurate reflection, I felt that the best way to do this WOM analysis was to individually get a score out of 10 using the four different methods, and then getting a total final score out of 40 (the total score from each of the four methods combined) to find the film's WOM percentage.

Even then, this analysis can be at best, viewed as estimate. It is simply impossible to ask every single person that a watches a film their opinion of the film.

Anyway, here are my results...they may surprise you!

(Note: this isn't a reflection of which films were liked universally all across India, but rather, strictly a % of how strong/weak the WOM of a film was amongst those that watched the film, regardless of if it had limited appeal or All-India appeal).

Audience WOM (Word of Mouth) in India of films released in 2016:

Films with Excellent WOM:

Dangal: 87%

Nil Battey Sannatta: 85%

Pink: 84%

Neerja: 81%

Films with Very Good WOM:

Airlift: 77%

Kapoor & Sons: 72%

Happy Bhaag Jaayegi: 71%

Films with Good WOM:

Sultan: 68%

Shivaay: 67%

Madaari: 64%

Rustom: 64%

Sarabjit: 64%

Sala Khadoos: 63%

Dear Zindagi: 61%

Sanam Teri Kasam: 60%

Wazir: 60%

Films with Mixed WOM:

ADHM: 59%

Kahaani 2: 59%

M.S. Dhoni- The Untold Story: 59%

T33N: 59%

Udta Punjab: 59%

Jai Gangajal: 56%

Raman Raghav 2.0: 56%

Ki and Ka: 55%

Force 2: 53%

Housefull 3: 53%

Mohenjo Daro: 52%

Baaghi: 51%

Freaky Ali: 51%

Akira: 50%

Dishoom: 50%

Rocky Handsome: 50%

Films with Negative WOM:

Fan: 49%

Ghayal Once Again: 49%

Azhar: 48%

Veerappan: 44%

1920 London: 43%

Rock On 2: 43%

Befikre: 42%

Fitoor: 42%

Raaz Reboot: 41%

A Flying Jatt: 41%

Great Grand Masti: 41%

Wajah Tum Ho: 41%

Baar Baar Dekho: 39%

Mirzya: 39%

Sanam Re: 39%

Banjo: 37%

Mastizaade: 34%

Kya Kool Hai Hum 3: 28%

Some interesting notes I found in this analysis:

Dangal was the best WOM film in 2016, recording an excellent 87% while Kya Kool Hai Hum 3 had the worst WOM of the year, scoring a pathetic 28% score.

Shah Rukh Khan's Fan has a pretty strong IMDB user rating (7.4/10) and BookMyShow user rating (6.9/10), but was let down by an extremely poor trend at the box office after its opening day and opening weekend, resulting in negative WOM category.

Shivaay and Sultan actually had a same calculated 68% WOM score, but I am sure that Shivaay didn't have as good WOM as Sultan, hence why I lowered Shivaay's score by 1%.

Three non-family, adult-oriented type films (Befikre, Great Grand Masti, and Wajah Tum Ho) all had a poor WOM score that was similar to each other in the 41-42% range. Another film of this category, Mastizaade, came in second last place on the list, just ahead of another film of this category, Kya Kool Hai Hum 3 (which came in last place).

John Abraham's three action films (Force 2, Rocky Handsome, Dishoom) all had Mixed WOM in the 50-53% range.

My calculated WOM score for Airlift of 77% was similar to the one calculated by Ormax Media, which was 79%. Interestingly, 8 of the top 10 films in my list were also in the list of Best WOM films 2016 by Ormax Media, just in different order.

Originally posted by: DividerA

and what do u want in return? a medal?