MUMBAI: With the arrival of SRK-starrer magnum opus ‘Chennai Express’, directed by Rohit Shetty, the month of August 2013 received a bumper booster in terms of Box Office collections.

In the month of August 2013, as many as 18 new releases hit the marquee. The combined business of all these films was approximately a little under Rs 3.75 billion (Rs 375 crore) net, of which ‘Chennai Express’ took the lion’s share at 55%.

Other contributors to this whopping number were Balaji’s ‘Once Upton a Time In Mumbaai Dobara’ (starring Akshay Kumar, Imran Khan and Sonakshi Sinha), Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Madras Cafe’ and Prakash Jha’s Amitabh Bachchan-starrer ‘Satyagraha’.

In 2013, the only other month with a mammoth Rs 3 billion (Rs 300 crore) nett was May (cumulative business of approximately Rs 3.01 billion or Rs 301 crore net), due to the runaway success of Karan Johar-produced ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’, along with the figures of ‘Shootout at Wadala’.

As far as 2013 is concerned, the mega lineup of November can provide stiff competition to August.

In 2012, November was a bumper successful month, with biggies like ‘Son Of Sardaar’, ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ and ‘Talaash’ raking in top dollar. The cumulative gross collections of November were Rs 3.1 billion (Rs 310 crore) with 15 releases.

Even September 2012 was a majorly important month at the box office, with collections in the range of Rs 2.96 billiob (Rs 296 crore) on the back of 14 releases. Among them were Ranbir Kapoor starrer ‘Barfi!’, ‘Raaz 3’ and ‘OMG! Oh My God’

It remains to be seen whether November 2013 (during which Diwali releases like ‘Krrish 3’ and ‘Ram Leela’ are lined up), can replicate the success of last year’s November.

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