It seems like Akshay Kumar's film could be flushed out of Chinese theatres as it struggles to strike the Rs 100-crore target.
China has showed renewed love for Indian films and many top Bollywood flicks have been released in the neighbouring country to rave reviews. It all started with "3 Idiots" featuring Aamir Khan when it was released in 2011 and set the ball rolling in the Chinese market from a business point of view.
Since then, many Indian films have hit Chinese theatres, four of which were released in 2018 itself. However, the most recent film, Akshay Kumar’s "Toilet: EK Prem Katha" failed to woo crowds to theathres.
And it now seems like the film could be flushed out of theatres, even as it struggles to strike the Rs 100-crore target. The film was screened 56,307 times on day one, which is the highest by any Indian film in China.
Reiterating the movie’s slowing trend in China, film trade analyst Taran Adarsh said that "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" has fizzled out and is unlikely to reach the $15 million-mark. The film has earned Rs 94.79 crore ($13.93 million) until the second week of its release in the country.
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It got off to a disastrous start in week two and fetched as little as Rs 88.87 lakh, Rs 1.36 crore and Rs 1.64 crore on successive days.
It could well be the first Bollywood film of the year to have collected revenues below Rs 100 crore. Other releases including Aamir Khan’s "Secret Superstar", Salman Khan’s "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" and Irrfan Khan’s "Hindi Medium" earned Rs 803.61 crore, Rs 293 crore and, Rs 225.57 crore, respectively.
Although "Toilet" enjoyed the biggest release of an Indian film in China, it could not hold on to audiences in theatres. It saw a 45.96 percent decline on day four.
Nonetheless, a section of the industry wasn’t too confident of the film striking a chord in China, considering the issue it deals with.
With China becoming one of the biggest markets for film business in the world, increasing its screen count from 2,500 in early 2000s to 52,000 in 2017, it has become a crucial circuit for Indian releases. So much so that Aamir Khan’s next venture "Thugs of Hindostan" will see a simultaneous release in both India and China.