Tasmayee Laha Roy Moneycontrol News
Akshay Kumar, who has given tentpole hits in his career, is one of the most dependable actors in Bollywood. However, the Khiladi, along with South superstar Rajnikanth, may not be able to save 2.0. With the opening collections not living up to the hype created, the film is anything but the massive hit it was expected to be.
2.0 and its 2010 hit sequel Enthiran has one major difference. While Enthiran was made on a budget of around Rs 130 crore, Rs 500 crore has gone into the making of 2.0, making it the most expensive film Indian cinema has ever seen.
Even with stunning VFX, a power-packed cast, a mid-week release and shows as early as 4 am, 2.0 couldn’t create the impact it wanted to at the box office. The film collected close to Rs 20 crore from its Hindi release on Thursday and Rs 40 crore from the Tamil version, taking the total for the opening day to Rs 60 crore.
But is Rs 60 crore a bad number? Perhaps yes, for a film of this stature.
Precedents set by films like Baahubali 2 have made the box office greedy and show Indian cinema how a film has the potential to draw Rs 100 crore on its opening day backed just by special effects and a popular star cast.
According to film trade analyst Atul Mohan, the sale of satellite and digital rights deal has brought the producers close to Rs 120 crore while another Rs 80 crore was made by selling the film to Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions (just like Baabubali 2) for the Hindi version. “If sub distributions from the South is taken into account, which is worth close to Rs 50 crore, the film has only made close to Rs 250 crore as of date and going by the trend, ticket sales will bring in another Rs 125 crore approximately through the weekend. While the numbers could be considered humongous for a small-budget film, it is not at par for a film made on a budget of Rs 500 crore,” Mohan said.
While producers Allirajah Subaskaran and K Karunamoorthy will definitely break even with 2.0, they will not be able to make the kind of money they or the audience had thought the film will make. Unfortunately or not, every expensive film made in India now has benchmarks set by the Baahubali series to surpass. If a film made on Rs 250 crore can make Rs 100 crore on day one — why can’t the rest do the same? This is the common notion.
Breaking even is clearly no more the only need of the hour, just like the Rs 100 crore club of Bollywood is also passe.
The fate of the film is now dependent solely on ticket sales through the first two weeks. Exhibitors are upbeat about the film. “Robot 2.0 has had a great opening and the initial audience reaction is very encouraging. The 3D effects and overall technology makes the movie a very promising and exciting family watch for this weekend,” Rajender Singh, chief programming officer, Inox Leisure Limited.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
