Box office collection: Fast X on path to success, The Kerala Story to enter 200 Crore Club

Vin Diesel in Fast X (screen grab)

Even with no major Bollywood film set to release this month, May has taken a turn for the better for theatre owners. Perhaps Hindi filmmakers chose to give May a miss for fear that the IPL would play spoilsport. Whatever the reason, it has now been proven to be utterly unfounded, with both The Kerala Story and Fast X turning out to be big money spinners. Even Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has earned moderately well (Rs 45 crore in two weeks).

Fast X at the box office

Fast X saw an early release on Thursday. Contrary to the trend, Thursday's release was a full-fledged release and not a paid preview. Now that’s always a double-edged sword because low occupancy during paid previews can still be brushed under the carpet but then if a film doesn’t do well on a full-fledged release, then it can backfire. Thankfully that was not the case as the film collected Rs 12 crore on the weekday itself.

Word of mouth has been good for the Louis Leterrier film starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jason Momoa, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Jason Statham, Sung Kang, Alan Ritchson, Daniela Melchior, Scott Eastwood, with Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Brie Larson and Rita Moreno, and that reflects in steady collections that came on Friday as well.

Fast X has been seeing good footfalls right through, and that too when The Kerala Story is drawing in the crowds too. That said, the Hindi film has its own audience, a majority of whom will have watched the film by now. Fast X came as the new source of entertainment, and it seems to have garnered interest as well - the film ended up collecting Rs 13 crore* more on Friday, taking the total over its first two days in Indian theatres to Rs 25 crore*.

The Kerala Story at the box office

As for The Kerala Story, it had had a huge first week, collecting over Rs 80 crore. It ended up having an even bigger second week, with over Rs 90 crore coming in. That resulted in a total of around Rs 172 crore coming in a matter of just two weeks, which is next only to The Kashmir Files which had crossed Rs 207 crore after two weeks.

That said, the trend for the Adah Sharma starrer is more stable. Its third Friday, despite competition from Fast X, stands at Rs 6 crore*, whereas collections for The Kashmir Files had started declining from the third week onwards with Rs 4.50 crore coming on its third Friday. So far, the Vipul Shah production stands at Rs 178 crore* and now it’s a matter of just 3-4 more days before it enters the 200 Crore Club. All time blockbuster.

IB71 at the box office

Another film in the running is IB 71 and while it managed to cross the Rs 7 crore mark after its opening weekend, it had stable collections from Monday to Wednesday with Rs 1 crore collected on a daily basis. However, Thursday saw a dip due to the huge release of Fast X which diverted all attention towards itself. The film is still in contention in the second week at select screens but with its overall score a little under Rs 12 crore, a lifetime score of Rs 20 crore won’t be possible now. Now it has to be seen how far the Vidyut Jammwal starrer travels past the Rs 15 crore mark.

*Estimates. Final numbers awaited

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources