New Delhi: Beating trade and critics’ expectations, Akshay Kumar's latest flick Housefull has emerged as the second-highest box office grosser in the opening weekend only behind 3 Idiots collections. Between the last Friday and Sunday, Housefull raked in around Rs 32 crore catapulting it to the top of the list of releases, this year.
The movie is expected to rake in around Rs 50 crore from the first week collections, film trade experts said. In its march towards becoming a commercial success, box office collections for Housefull has surpassed opening collections of hits like My Name Is Khan, Ghajini , Love Aaj Kal and Singh Is Kinng among others, trade data shows.
“Yes, Housefull has managed to receive a good weekend collection because for the previous six weeks, there was no good content in the theatres. Also, the film has great starcast, locations, music and comedy—that has worked in its favour,” Vinod Mirani, managing editor, Box Office India told FE.
The film may manage Rs 50-crore collections in the first week as no big-budget films are expected to hit the theatres till May 21 when Hrithik Roshan’s much-awaited film Kites is scheduled for a worldwide release. According to a trade analyst, Kites, is expected to get the biggest openings of the recent times as its release is awaited for the last 8-10 months.
Housefull has also raked in big moolah in the overseas markets, especially in the United States and UK . For the weekend, Housefull generated over Rs 10 crore in the overseas market. Within the country, the film opened to packed houses in north, Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Maharashtra and Western India .
“We saw 100% bookings in a number of our shows on Saturday and Sunday for Housefull, probably the first time since IPL began. Even the weekday shows are running with 40-45% advance bookings,” said a senior executive of a leading multiplex chain in Gurgaon.
Some film analysts feel that the collections for Housefull will fade away after the first week mainly due to the release of Yash Chopra’s Badmash Company and also because of the high distribution costs for Housefull . The film, directed by Sajid Khan, was released with over 750 physical prints and around 1,000 digital prints, the cost of which will become high to sustain against the diminishing returns from second week...
