MUMBAI: Despite mixed responses pouring in from all nooks and corners, Yash Raj Films’ Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi managed to cast its spell at the box office during its opening weekend in India.
Although the film picked up slowly on Friday, it sported a houseful performance over the weekend across all multiplex chains. Sources inform Businessofcinema.com that Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi net weekend collections in India is in the range of Rs 200 – 250 million (Rs 20 – 25 crores).
Moreover, box office collection of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi for Friday, Saturday and Sunday is amongst the top three of this year at multiplex chains, so far.
According to an official statement from Yash Raj Films, the movie has grossed approximately Rs 600 million (Rs 60 crores) worldwide in its opening weekend. In the Middle East, the movie has grossed approximately $1 million as per YRF.
In India, PVR Cinemas has done a net business of Rs 23.60 million (Rs 2.36 crores) in 25 properties across India, which is second to Singh Is Kinng’s Rs 25.50 million (Rs 2.55 crores) net business (excluding paid previews). Similarly, Cinemax has done a net business of Rs 14 million (Rs 1.40 crores), which is also second to Singh Is Kinng’s business at their cinema chains. However, Inox has done a net business of Rs 20.80 million (Rs 2.08 crores), which is the chain’s highest for this year. At Fun Cinemas, the movie did a net collection of Rs 10 million (Rs 1 crore) over the opening weekend.
"Rab Ne… fared very well over the weekend. Fame Kolkatta did its highest weekend business with net collection of Rs 1.90 million (Rs 19 lakhs). Across Fame’s other properties in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Bangalore etc Rab Ne… is second or third in its net collections, after Singh Is Kinng and Golmaal Returns," says Fame cinemas AVP distribution, programming and corporate sales Aditya Shroff.
Albeit, the spell ended with Sunday’s last show and the movie witnessed a fall on Monday with very few patrons going to theaters in the morning and afternoon shows across multiplexes in India barring Delhi. The occupancy for the morning and afternoon shows on Monday is about 30 – 40 percent, which is half compared to morning and afternoon shows on Friday. Multiplex officials inform that less than 100 people were sitting in auditoriums with capacity of 300 – 400 for the movie on Monday.
"Such a big drop is not expected from a Shahrukh Khan – Aditya Chopra movie. The film may do better in evening shows during the week but the business from Monday to Friday will only be 20 percent compared to weekend’s business," says a multiplex officer.
PVR Cinema’s head of programming Prakhar Joshi informs that the movie is fairing better in the North than in Bombay. "In fact even on Monday in PVR Cinemas in Delhi, the film is still going strong with average of 80 percent occupancy in theaters, due to the weekly holiday but there has been a drop at cinemas in other cities."
A distributor adds, "Rab Ne’s collections are great for any other film, but not for an SRK – Adi film. The movie’s collections dropped on Monday. Also it lost out on Friday’s opening and Mumbai terror tragedy must have affected the city’s collection by 10 – 15 percent, otherwise the collections could have been slightly better."
