Close to half a dozen Hindi films released in theatres this Friday. Of these, the one which has collected the most is Vidyut Jammwal starrer IB 71, which is also produced by him. The film saw limited promotion, marketing and release, as it was aiming for word of mouth to do the trick. All things considered, it has managed a fair start for itself, with Rs 1.67 crore* coming in on the first day.
Also read: Vidyut Jammwal: ‘IB71 is the journey of 30 Indian secret service agents. There are 30 heroes’
IB71 didn't have multiple screens at the multiplexes and instead had one screen reserved for 4-5 shows a day. Also, considering the film's lead Vidyut Jammwal has a fan-following amongst the masses, select single screens are also playing it. Pre-pandemic, the action hero's films were regularly opening in Rs 3-4 crore range, and then during the pandemic, his films like Khuda Haafiz - Chapter One and Sanak did well digitally too.
However, things have been different since the pandemic. Most films released in the last 20 months have failed to get off the ground. The collections for IB71 are of course not the kind that inspire celebration among investors from Day 1 itself. However, they at least lead one to that wait-and-watch scenario as good word of mouth from this point on can help it grow over the weekend and then sustain collections over the weekdays.
Meanwhile, one film which has crossed major frontiers and is now enjoying a journey of its own is The Kerala Story. The film is set to enter the 100 Crore Club. The first week of the film saw Rs 81.07 crore coming in and then the second week has started well too, with Rs 12.23 crore collected on Friday. This has brought the total to Rs 93.30 crore. Today, the film is expected to comfortably go past the Rs 15 crore mark, which means it would go way past the 100-crore mark by the close of day.
Industry insiders expect that the film will cross the Rs 150 crore mark by the end of the second week and then march towards the 200 Crore milestone. So far in 2023, apart from Pathaan, no other Hindi release has touched even Rs 150 crore (Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar stopped at Rs 147 crore), which means The Kerala Story will likely be one of the biggest grossers of 2023 when the year comes to a close.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
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