For most films in Bollywood, crossing that ₹100 crore mark is a celebratory feat. When it does so in less than a week, it’s an even bigger achievement. But for Thugs of Hindostan the collections haven’t quite scaled significant heights. Reportedly produced on a staggering budget of ₹300+ crore by Yash Raj Films, the Amitabh Bachchan-Aamir Khan starrer was released to 5,000 theatres in India and about 2,000 screens abroad. The film also enjoyed an earlier release on Thursday, in time for Diwali. All these factors did, in fact, help in cinching that bumper ₹50 crore net opening. Plus, ticket prices, in light of the festival, were hiked by 20 to 25% in most multiplexes.
The film then plummeted, with an almost 50% drop the next day, earning only ₹28 crore net on Friday. In the six days since its release, Thugs has managed to scrape ₹128 crore net, a paltry sum for a film with such huge expectations. Before the weekend was in, it was clear: Thugs… could not resonate with neither single screen audiences nor multiplex viewers. Tickets sales were mostly skewed towards the North where Diwali is a bigger festival. “Social media reviews came in very fast, the film only survived because of the holiday. It’s telling, that if a film is bad it can get rejected very fast,” said Shailesh Kapoor of Ormax Media, a firm specialising in trade insights.
Content is king
Kapoor points to a similar situation last month that occurred with Namaste England which was released during Dussehra. Even before the day was over, the film was chased out of theatres, running at very low occupancy rates.
Made on a reported budget of ₹60 crores and released to 2,100 screens in the country, the comedy opened at a paltry ₹1.61 crore net, collecting only ₹7.91 crore net during its lifetime. “We’re seeing the reverse with Andhadhun and Badhaai Ho , both films picked up very fast. The impact of social media reviews has really increased,” shared Kapoor adding that just a few years ago, Thugs could have sustained for a few more days before collections inevitably declined. According to him, it could have possibly earned a lot more than it did today.
Timing is crucial
Most films steer clear of the week after Diwali to let the festival release continue its annihilation of the box office. This year, that benefit belongs to previous releases, namely Andhadhun and Badhaai Ho . While Ayushmann Khurrana’s films didn’t have peak show times, people are flocking to watch both of Khurrana’s films. In its fourth week, Badhaai Ho – made on a reported budget of ₹30 crore with a screen count of 2,000 – has collected ₹8.85 crore net, smoothly sliding into the ₹100-crore club with a total collection of ₹116.90 crore net. On the other hand, Andhadhun – made on a reported budget of ₹22 crore and screen count of 900 – earned ₹1.65 crore net in its sixth week, making a total of ₹69.18 crore net.
While Kapoor is of the opinion that Thugs will recover money from digital and satellite sales, the damage to box office collections is irreversible.
What might have been a spectacular year in terms of total revenues will now be hit with a huge deficit. “With a huge star cast and its budget, the film was expected to do ₹200 to ₹300 crore,” said Kapoor. “Since it’s done about half of that, the loss is around ₹150 crore.”
Stocktaking
But 2018 isn’t over yet, and so far the year is already in the clear with the slew of mid-budget films that have made more than ₹100 crore net at the box office. For example, there were the smaller titles like Sonu Ke Tittu Ki Sweety (₹100.80 crore net), Raazi (₹122.39 crore net), Stree (₹124.49 crore net). Then blockbusters like Padmaavat (₹282.28 crore net), Sanju (₹334.57 crore net) and Baaghi 2 (₹160.74 crore net). Plus, the next six weeks will see the release of huge films like Rajinikanth’s 2.0 , Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero and Ranveer Singh’s Simmba .
