‘Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty’, starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha, finished the first week well, with box office collections rising, but not spectacularly so – this is Akshay’s first movie in almost eight months and expectations were very high.
The film garnered Rs 68.63 crore in net box office collections in the first seven days after its release. While ‘Holiday’ opened its account with Rs 12.18 crore on Friday, Saturday was decent at Rs 12.34 crore, but Sunday saw a good jump with Rs 16.80 crore in its kitty, taking the overall first weekend total to Rs 41.32 crore net. But Monday saw the collections dropping 50 per cent to Rs 8.11 cr followed by Rs 7.10 crore on Tuesday, Rs 6.31 crore on Wednesday and Rs 5.74 crore on Thursday.
According to trade expert Taran Adarsh, ‘Holiday’ performed best in UAE-GCC region and Pakistan. The film’s overseas box office collections stood at Rs 17.01 crore in the first seven days.
‘Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty’ is directed by A R Murugadoss, whose debut film in Hindi, ‘Ghajini’, was the first Hindi film to waltz past the Rs 100 crore mark in domestic box office collections.
Adarsh mentioned that though the film opened well in most circuits, but the response wasn’t as strong in certain pockets (especially multiplexes in some metros).
?An Akshay starrer is hitting the marquee after almost eight months (after ‘Boss’). The gap between his last release and this one was just perfect… It’s the first biggie to woo the spectators, after the IPL. Also, unlike Akshay’s previous movies, the genre was totally different this time … With so many factors going in its favour, ‘Holiday’ has to score and score big numbers,? Adarsh said.
?In addition, the film has had a wide release in India, close to 3500 screens. Hence, the numbers had to complement the release strategy adopted by its distributors. While the business gathered momentum towards the evening/night shows on Friday, the total it posted at the end of Day one wasn’t in sync with its merits, frankly,? stated Adarsh.
Manoj Desai of G7 adds that while the weekend shows had 100 per cent occupancy, the matinee and afternoon shows on Monday and Tuesday saw a dip.
?Expectations were definitely high, since it’s the first film to hit the screens after IPL. But despite the housefull shows on weekend, the response to afternoon shows on weekdays was lukewarm. But the night shows are full and going strong,? Desai said.
The opening day box office collections also suffered due to colleges re-opening and the suspense over pending admissions of many students. The film took a leap on Sunday, but the overall box office collections still fell short of expectations for a solo release and the very high price tag of the film, Trade expert Vinod Mirani said.
?The film will have to sustain well in the days to come.? Gautam Dutta, COO – PVR cinemas, mentioned that the film saw 60 per cent occupancy at the PVR chain of multiplexes and the expectations from weekdays will be around 25 – 30 per cent.
(With inputs from Screen)
