Mumbai: Mukta Arts’ Yuvvraaj released on Friday with a poor opening of 30 – 40 percent at multiplexes across India. The movie picked up slightly on Saturday and registered an occupancy level higher than Friday’s by 10 – 20 percent.

"Yuvvraaj has not opened well and to make things worse it will see a major fall Monday onwards. The film will not hold itself at the box office because of the poor reviews and bad word of mouth publicity," says a multiplex officer on condition of anonymity.

In fact, last week’s release Dostana produced by Dharma Production is fairing better than Yuvvraaj at few multiplexes and is at par across other multiplexes, especially in metros.

"Dostana is going strong with 60 – 65 percent occupancy on Saturday in metros and minimum 45 percent in non metros," informs Cinemax senior vice president Devang Sampat.

Moreover there is not much difference in the number of shows allotted to last week’s release Dostana and this Friday’s release Yuvvraaj. Yuvvraaj’s number of shows is either same or lesser by one-two shows. In fact, at a few multiplexes Dostana still has more shows than Yuvvraaj.

In smaller centres like UP, Punjab and Gujarat, Yuvvraaj has had a better opening as compared to its opening in metros. "Yuvvraaj has taken a better opening in smaller centres than in metros," says Inox vice president programming and distribution Utpal Acharya.

Yuvvraaj stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor and Zayed Khan. It is directed and produced by Subhash Ghai.