Bollywood Information

Anurag Kashyap's Ugly after almost a year of delay has finally hit the theaters today. The movie was screened across various international film festivals receiving rave reviews for the story and the performances. Having released a week later a big flick PK, here is what the trade experts have to say about movie's business and the release date strategy.



Tarun Tandon [M.D Indra Films, Nizam and Andhra]: If the content of the movie is good, it will definitely perform, because it has got a holiday period. Ugly is going to be tested on the content. I don't see a big opening for the movie, because it's a small movie and it's been promoted in a very limited scale. They should have started the promotions way before. Anurag Kashyap's small movies have always performed, and for its budget, I think, Ugly will do pretty well and see a decent figure at the Box-Office. PK's performance has been fabulous, but still Ugly is seeing the release and is getting shows everywhere, though less number of screens, but they are not missing out on the holiday period. So I think coming a week later is not a bad call. Probably getting more screens, but not having a holiday period compensates. Coming a week later is not an issue, but having released with PK would be a major issue. However, 2nd January 2015 would have been a better day.
Akshaye Rathi {Exhibitor, Mumbai}: There are a few like The Lunch Box and other small movies that have done phenomenally well, but Ugly doesn't look like that. It's way too niche a film for the numbers to be significant. PK is going to have a phenomenal sustenance of shows and screens in the second week in the multiplexes, as barring a rare few in the metros, PK won’t be showcased much in the single screens. Hence, Ugly will have two to four shows in every multiplex property. But, I don't know if that's good enough to do phenomenally well. It will do fine with a very niche audience but, I don't see it going much beyond that.

PK has hit the roof. If the weekend saw wonderful momentum building for the film, weekdays showed the level of acceptance that the Aamir Khan starrer had fetched. The film continued to score heavily and with Christmas holiday on Thursday, the Rajkumar Hirani affair saw an escalation all over again. As a result, the film managed to gather astonishing footfalls with collections of 182.39 crores [nett] in its First Week itself.
The success has turned out to be even better for all involved, and there are reasons aplenty. First and foremost, Aamir has managed to break his own record of Dhoom-3 that was created last year for the highest collections ever gained in the first week run.
Secondly, Rajkumar Hirani has almost managed to collect the entire lifetime collections of 3 Idiots [202 crore]. Thirdly, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra's confidence in the product and the promises that he made to the distributors have proven true as well. Last but not the least, Anushka Sharma is back in business with a biggie, and how.

With the kind of response that PK is gaining, it is now a given that this social/satirical affair would result as the biggest success of 2014, hence surpassing Salman Khan’s Kick {233 crore} and Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year {203 crore}. Meanwhile, it would also go past the Chennai Express {227 crore}.
The next big target though is Dhoom 3 which had managed 284 crore. There are many more overs (read open days) ahead to score these runs {collections} and it is now a matter of whether the film manages to seize this opportunity and play consistently or run out of breath after some initial quick hitting!

Out of a blue, Anurag Kashyap's much delayed Ugly is all set for release today. With just a 10 day window for the film’s promotion, the thought is indeed noble to spend less on marketing.
Having said that, it is pretty much a wait and watch scenario to see if the gamble indeed pays off. After all, PK is doing great guns whereas Ugly doesn't have any star face to fetch audience for itself. It would all boil down to word of mouth.
Now that could still be fine enough for a feel good affair as such films have a bigger chance to grow on the basis of news spreading fast about their worth. However, Ugly is a dark film and hence is aiming for a niche audience to begin with.
As things stand today, the film can't really expect an opening per se, and it would actually be a surprise in itself if it indeed manages to register an impact the box office.

Aamir Khan's most anticipated film of the year PK has had a smashing start and the film within its first six days itself has made a collection of 154.84 crores at the domestic box office. This is Aamir’s fourth film into the 100 crore club and looking at the way it is performing, soon the film may be crossing 200 crores mark too.



The film has now beaten the lifetime collections of Ajay Devgn starrer Singham Returns which made a lifetime collection of 141 crores at the domestic box office. PK has stayed extremely strong in the weekdays and with the Christmas holiday too on Thursday, the film will be cashing in on it.
PK has now become the fourth highest grosser of the year.

These have been such disastrous weeks at the box office that one has almost become immune to films falling like nine pins. In fact it is one thing to feel disappointed about the fate of a film and another to be totally oblivious to the manner in which it eventually performs. Of late, the sentiments of trade as well as audience have shifted towards the latter, what with big, medium as well as small budget films failing to even rise, let aside crash at the box office.




This is exactly what happened in the week gone by, what with Badlapur Boys, Main Aur Mr. Riight as well as Life Mein Twist Hai turning out to be certified disasters. There was no opening, no critical acclaim, no momentum over the weekend and no hold during the weekdays. In fact by the time the weekdays actually kick-started, all talks were centered just on PK, which took audience further away from these new releases.
With hardly any audience whatsoever, each of these films has disappeared in one week flat. Truly a sorry state of affairs and one just hopes that the deficit is taken care by some extent at the least with the release of PK and then the newer lot of films in 2015.

PK Movie, which released today, took a very impressive opening at the box office in India, as per its first day first shows across the country.
The occupancy is excellent and if the film maintains a similar pace in the afternoon and early evening shows, PK’s opening day collections will be huge! Of course, the film is bound to pick up in the late evening and night shows for sure, that will help the film to rake in ample moolah in its kitty.
Despite severe cold wave in northern belt, Delhi and Noida opened well. Rajasthan, Raipur, Nagpur, Indore, Pune, Kolkata are good in the early shows. Thanks to Aamir’s Bhojpuri accent in the film, Bihar and UP too witnessed a decent occupancy. Mumbai is as usual doing the best business!

Watch this space for more!

PK is all set to hit the theaters tomorrow and the eagerness of the audience to enjoy the cinematic treat from the successful actor-director duo, Aamir Khan and Rajkumar Hirani can be seen with fast pace filling of seats in advance booking.
With many factors like the star cast, music and the Christmas period that will contribute in making good collections at the Box Office, here is what the experts have to say about the advance booking, opening day and weekend collections of PK.

N.R Pachisia [Producer and Distributor – Mumbai]
The advance booking is going very well, and I think, the opening day will be around Rs 27/28 crores and the weekend collections will be around Rs 80/85 crores. Apart from the increased ticket rates, it is the Christmas period which will be an advantage for the film. If the content is right, the numbers will grow; undoubtedly the collaboration of Aamir Khan and Rajkumar Hirani has worked wonders which we have seen with 3 Idiots: it is the emotional element with a strong message which connects the audience to Hirani's films. Hence, after having a disappointed year with many bad films, PK is the only hope to see the year end on a happy note. And I am pretty sure that the movie will make big numbers and will have a long run at the theaters.
Akshaye Rathi [Film Exhibitor and Distributor Mumbai]
PK has already gone beyond Singham Returns, Kick, Happy New Year, and Bang Bang with the highest advance booking through various online booking sites and at the ticket window. I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie does not see the highest opening day or the weekend collections, because this movie is not in the rat race of showing numbers, but I will be surprised if the movie does not run at a stretch of six to seven weeks. PK is a dark horse which has the potential to mint highest collections with its long run; and this being collaboration of Aamir Khan and Rajkumar Hirani. The audience expectations are sky high and hence, the movie will have a repeat value and will pick up with a positive word of mouth. It will work well in single screens and multiplexes; metros, rural, big and small cities and towns.
But a well/known Exhibitor from Gujarat has a different story to tell
Advance booking is average to good, nothing like typical Salman Khan film or even Dhoom 3. Craze amongst masses seems to be lacking here in Gujarat. The opening day will be around Rs. 25 crore and the movie will make the weekend collections of Rs 75 crore plus. However, with positive word of mouth figures can improve.