Box office collection: Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, Ponniyin Selvan 2, Bad Boy

Salman Khan in Kisi ka Bhai Kisi ki Jaan. The film by Salman Khan Films had yet to enter the 100 Crore Club after its second Friday in theatres. (Screen grab)

It's been a very low start to the weekend at the box office, what with just around Rs 5 crore coming in. When it comes to screens playing Hindi films, the capacity is that of over Rs 50 crore per day. Hence, from average occupancy perspective, it's an average of just 10 percent across multiplexes and single screens, which is quite low.

Eid release Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ka Jaan accounted for 50 percent of this sum with Rs 2.50 crore* coming in. Of course, even this isn't a great number since there is a fall from Thursday numbers of Rs 3.50 crore. Moreover, last Friday when the film had opened at the box office, Rs 15.81 crore had come in which indicates a major drop in footfalls from the first to the eighth day. The Salman Khan starrer did gather good numbers on Saturday and Sunday - its first weekend in theatres - when more than Rs 25 crore each had come in. However, after a double-digit Monday, the film's collections have been dropping.

So far, the film has collected Rs 94.71 crore* and eventually it will hit the 100 crores mark by tomorrow. Post that it will reach Rs 110 crore also in days to follow but the journey from there to a potential eventual score of over RS 115 crore would be quite closely observed.

As for new release PS-2, it has taken a good start in the original Tamil version but the Hindi version has had few takers with Rs 2 crore* coming in on Day 1. On its release, PS-1 [Hindi] had taken an opening of Rs 1.85 crore so it was expected that the second part would open far bigger, especially so since the dubbed version had actually done respectable business of Rs 24.50 crore while the Tamil version had turned out to be the biggest Tamil grosser ever. Hence, it's rather surprising that the box office collections haven't really gone through the roof.

To be sure, there is scope for the collections to grow well during the weekend. PS-1 [Hindi] had gone from Rs 1.85 crore to a weekend of Rs 7.60 crore and if PS-2 [Hindi] can manage a similar trajectory, then yet again a lifetime of over Rs 20 crore would be on the cards.

As for Bad Boy, it's a box-office story we've seen over and over lately: a mid-budget film that has just not managed to find the right showcasing and occupancy. This is director Rajkumar Santoshi's second release this year after Gandi Godse - Ek Yudh. While the re-imagined historic drama had a clash with Pathaan and failed to find any kind of footfalls, the latest romcom drama has a dated look and feel to it which resulted in lack of interest among audiences. The film was conceptualized more than five years back and an entire post-COVID generation has come up during this time period. In fact the film has been ready for a while too but then got stuck due to the pandemic. Now that it has finally arrived in theatres, a lot has changed in the world.

For newcomers Namashi Chakraborty and Amrin Qureshi, this must be heartbreaking; a start of Rs 0.25 crore* is not something that they would have bargained for. That said, at least they have finally debuted on the big screen and one just hopes that for their next outing, there is a far better box office reception.

*Figures updated till the time of publishing