Bollywood sails through first 18 weeks of 2018, delivers only 6 flops out of 20 releases

Although Bollywood may not have delivered too many hits in the first 18 weeks of 2018, it certainly has not disappointed its audiences. Only six of the 20 releases during the period failed at the box office.

Out of the 20 films that released until the second week of May, as many as five recovered their investments and also yielded some profits. While three movies were hits having doubled their investments, two others earned nearly 50 percent more than what was invested.

The success of two films that released this year came as a surprise to many as they achieved what only films with big-league stars could so far garner. Luv Ranjan’s Sonu ke Titu ki Sweety, made on a budget of Rs 37 crore, entered the coveted Rs 100-crore club while Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi 2 clocked Rs 110 crore, much higher than the Rs 59-crore invested in it.

Small-budget films dominated the box office so far this year but only a few turned profitable. Rani Mukherjee-starrer Hichki, Varun Dhawan’s October or latest offerings such as 102 Not out and Alia Bhatt’s Raazi have had a successful run at the box office. But movies like Omerta, Aiyaary, Kaalakaandi, 1921, Dil Junglee, Mukkabaaz have been unable to score well.

Films that lose over 50 percent of investment are considered flops. Some such movies were Sidharth Malhotra- Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Aiyaary made on a budget of Rs 65 crore but that could gross just Rs 17.51 crore. Saif Ali Khan’s Kaalakaandi managed to gather only Rs 4.78 crore with an investment of Rs 18 crore on the film’s budget. Dil Juunglee starring Taapsee Pannu also could add only Rs 1.15 crore to its kitty, less than its budget at Rs 20 crore.

But there were content driven films to save the day. In more than four months, Bollywood entertained the moviegoers with a large variety of content. It looks like 2018 is on course to be a successful year for the Hindi film industry after seeing a slow performance from the previous two years.