New Delhi: Despite the advantage of having a big Diwali holiday, the month of November came into its own only towards the end. What could have been a disastrous period thanks to the massive debacle of Yash Raj Films’ action adventure Thugs of Hindostan has been salvaged by the opening collections of Rajinikanth’s science fiction film 2.0.
“Expectations from November were sky high and it was quite a critical month. In case of Thugs, the fact that the content was completely rejected was coupled with the high ticket rates and negative social media buzz,” said film trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar about the film that had made Rs 151.04 crore at last count.
Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer (Cinemas) at online ticketing site BookMyShow, said 2.0 is definitely the movie of the month.
“The film had a wide release and has done phenomenal business at the box office. It has performed impressively in all the languages (Tamil, Telugu and Hindi) and across formats (2D and 3D),” Saksena said. The Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar-starrer had collected around Rs 200 crore at last count, its opening weekend collections, with Rs 95 crore for the Hindi version alone.
Other Hindi releases of the month, drama thriller Pihu, Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta-starrer Bhaiaji Superhittt and Deol’s satirical comedy Mohalla Assi couldn’t make a mark either, collecting Rs 2.88 crore, Rs 4.25 crore and Rs 1.64 crore respectively.
Among the Hollywood offerings, fantasy film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald earned Rs 20.59 crore while animation comedy Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2 made Rs 80 lakh on its opening day.
Apart from 2.0, other non-Hindi local Indian films managed to impress too. Actor Vijay’s Tamil action drama Sarkar has crossed the Rs 260 crore mark worldwide while Marathi film Naal became the highest Marathi grosser of the year, making Rs 14 crore in its first week.
To be sure, there is much to look forward to this last month of the year that will determine the final fortunes of 2018. While there are some expectations from Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan-starrer Kedarnath, the most critical slots have been reserved for the end of the month.
“Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero and Ranveer Singh’s Simmba are the two biggies to watch out for,” Johar said.
All figures have been sourced from movie website Bollywood Hungama.