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‘Bullett Raja’ box office collections hit Rs 23 cr in opening weekend

Bullett Raja box office collections will not cover costs: Analyst.

Considering that director Tigmanshu Dhulia and Saif Ali Khan have teamed up for the first time, expectations from Bullett Raja, as far as box office collections were concerned, were high. However, the opening weekend collections failed to impress.

Action overdose

?May be this kind of cinema doesn?t work any more,? reasons trade analyst Amod Mehra and adds, ?People are bored of these action based Bollywood films. There has been an abundance of such films over the last few years. Besides, Bullett Raja was not up to the mark. The low-key promotion and publicity could also be one of the reasons for its bad performance at the BO.?

According to a source related to the project, the film opened with Rs 7.5 crore on Friday. The collections later dipped to Rs 7 crore on Saturday and on Sunday there was a marginal hike with Rs 8.8 crore. Thus the film which was made on a budget of Rs 55 crore, has collected around Rs 23.3 crore in its opening weekend. Bulett… is however, doing good business in Delhi and U.P.

At single screen, Regal, Mumbai, the Khan-Sonakshi Sinha starrer received a good response. A highly placed source working with the theatre, says that the film was given maximum space. With no other movies playing, all the five shows were devoted to the Tigmanshu Dhulia directorial. The source reveals, ?On Friday, the film collected Rs.92,658.25, and on Saturday it garnered Rs.83,170.80, whereas on Sunday, the film did a business of Rs.1,08,817.75 at the BO.?

As far as the multiplexes are concerned, the film received an above average response at Cinepolis India. Confirms Mayank Shroff, Manager Programming and Film Marketing, Cinepolis India, ?The action film got a pan India average occupancy of 70 per cent.?

Previous performers

Apart from Bullett Raja, certain multiplexes and single screens reserved a few shows for the Imran Khan-Kareena Kapoor Khan starrer Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, Sunny Deol?s Singh Saab The Great, and even Goliyon Ki Raas Leela: Ram-leela. ?We have given a couple of shows each to Gori Tere …. and Singh Saab ….. But it is the Sanjay Leela Bhansali?s … Ram-leela, that has sustained itself with 50 per cent occupancy pan India, Cinepolis during its third weekend,? says Shroff.

According to trade analyst Vinod Mirani, Gori Tere Pyar Mein and Singh Saab The Great collected Rs 12.5 crore and Rs 19.75 crore respectively, at the box office, the first seven days of their release.

International releases

Last week, also saw the release of animated musical fantasy Frozen. The film, directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee had limited number of shows at Cinepolis India, has performed very well in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, theatre owners are now eying the next big release, the Shahid Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha starrer R…Rajkumar. Unfortunately, this Prabhu Dheva film is also in the Indian action genre. ?The film?s performance will actually confirm if the viewers are really bored of the maar-dhaad cinema or not,? expresses Mehra.

Screen forecast

Our Verdict

In the Screen issue dated November 29-December 5, 2013 stated that the Saif Ali Khan-Sonakshi Sinha starrer Bullett Raja will open with a 55 per cent to 70 per cent occupancy. True to our prediction, the single screens and multiplexes have received the same occupancy as mentioned. Though we predicted that just like Dhulia?s other projects, this film too will catch on with a positive word-of-mouth, and in fact recover its cost of production in its first week, trade buzz suggests otherwise. According to trade analyst Amod Mehra, Bullett Raja will not be able to recover its money.

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First published on: 06-12-2013 at 12:20 IST
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