John Wick: Chapter 4 is the brightest spot this week as the film is doing particularly well at the box office. Though Bollywood release Bheed has arrived as well, it isn't doing well at all and has just not taken off. As for Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway, it had a decent week, whereas Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar brought in maximum moolah during the week gone by despite competition from Shazam! Fury of God, Kabzaa [Hindi] and Zwigato.
Let's talk about John Wick: Chapter 4 first.
Unlike Marvel movies and some other established action franchises like Fast and the Furious, Jurassic World, James Bond and Mission: Impossible, this one has never really found any footing in India. Since it has action in abundance with a lot of violence, the Keanu Reeves starrer hasn't really taken off over the last three installments. Hence, it was expected that even the fourth chapter would be just about decent and find itself in the Rs 3-4 crore opening range.
However, what has worked in favour of the film is the advent of OTT in the last couple of years that has brought it closer to the audience and kind of re-introduced the character to a much larger demographic. Lionsgate Play has been projecting the franchise as a premium offering on its platform, and as a result more and more people have got familiar with the stage and setting of this film about a reluctant assassin. As a result, when the advance booking opened for the film a few days back, tickets for the IMAX version saw brisk sales coming.
No wonder, the paid previews on Thursday saw very good footfalls with more than Rs 2 crore coming in. This was good enough to set the momentum and even though the expectations now soared to Rs 4-5 crore on the first day, what transpired was pleasantly surprising as Rs 6.25 crore* came in instead. As a result, the film now is sitting on a very healthy number of Rs 8.25 crore* which is a little better than first-day collections for Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, albeit with the help of paid preview numbers as well.
Hindi releases
As for the Hindi release Bheed, it ended up collecting in lakhs, which is rather disappointing. Expectation was that a film with Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar in the lead would at least cross Rs 1 crore even if the subject of the film is offbeat, as was the case with director Anubhav Sinha's last release Anek which managed Rs 1.77 crore on its first day. However, to have just Rs 40 lakh* coming on the opening day is not the kind of start anyone associated with the film would have expected. From here, even in best case scenario the first weekend would be Rs 1.75-2 crore, which is poor.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway chugged along in the first week to stay in and around the Rs 1 crore mark right through the weekdays after taking an opening of Rs 1.27 crores. While that resulted in the first-week numbers of Rs 10.51 crore, what promises a good addition to the total is the hold on the second Friday which saw Rs 90 lakh* coming in. That's not too far away from the first Friday, which means a second weekend of Rs 5 crore is now coming. The film is now assured of a Rs 20 crore total at least and that would be fair enough in the current box office scene.
Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar has managed to sail through, too, though again one expected far bigger box office results. It's not just about a good cast or a director. Tu Jhoothi is a rare family movie coming out of Bollywood today, and it had managed to pull in large crowds to the theatres. After the close of second week, the film has managed to go past the Rs 119 crore mark. Will it cross Rs 150 crorein lifetime earnings? Seems unlikely, but only time will tell.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
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