2017 was a relatively 'slower' year for Akshay Kumar as he had just two releases (less by his standards).
By Joginder Tuteja
Yet another year, yet another film festival expected from the 'one man industry', Akshay Kumar. Staying on to the most prolific of the superstars when it comes to multiple releases in a year, Akshay Kumar is looking at one of the most eventful years of the current decade with as many as five films set for released.
That's right, in 2019 he would be seen in Kesari, Mission Mangal, Good News, Housefull 4 and Sooryavanshi. Interestingly, each of his five releases belongs to different genres altogether, hence lending quite some variety for the audiences. What has to be seen though is, how much business do these films bring in at the box office.
Let's first take a look at the revenue that Akshay Kumar films have brought in the last few years.
2018 was superb as over Rs 600 crore came from just three releases. Between 2.0 [Rs 420 crore], Gold [Rs 105 crore] and PadMan [Rs 82 crore], as much as Rs 607 crore came in. One was a sci-fi affair, another was a sports drama and third was a social-health genre flick, each of which catered to distinct audience base. While 2.0 was a superhit in Hindi, Gold and PadMan made profits as well for its makers, hence ensuring a 100 percent success rate for those who had invested in it.
2017 was a relatively 'slower' year for Akshay Kumar as he had just two releases (less by his standards). Both films scored a century though. While Toilet - Ek Prem Katha [Rs 134 crore] broke his personal best of Rowdy Rathore [Rs 133 crore], Jolly LLB 2 [Rs 117 crore] did more than three times the business of its predecessor Jolly LLB [Rs 32 crore]. In total, Rs 251 crore came in.
2016 was a windfall year for him though where he turned out to be the first ever superstar in the current times to score a hat-trick of centuries. Airlift [Rs 129 crore], Rustom [Rs 128 crore] and Housefull 3 [Rs 109 crore] were all successes. While the first two were dramatic affairs, third in line was an out and out comedy. Between the three films, as much as Rs 366 crore were accumulated.
With as many as 8 releases in last 3 years, the sum total of Akshay Kumar grossers is a whopping Rs 1,224 crore has been collected. That makes it an average of Rs 155 crore per film. Of course, in this 2.0 is the biggest of them all as it by itself has brought in Rs 420 crore across all languages. Still, even if one keeps that aside, there is Rs 804 crore from 7 releases that makes it an average of around Rs 115 crore per release.
No wonder, even if looks at this minimum average per film, 2019 will be a record grossing year for Akshay Kumar, what with five of his films hitting the screens. With Rs 115 crore as a bare minimum average maintained for these films, we are looking at Rs 575 crore coming in at the least, which would be truly fantastic.
Of course expectations are that certain films would bring in a lot more moolah than this average. At least three of his Akshay Kumar's five releases are exploring pan-India mass market that warrants much higher footfalls. These are Kesari, Housefull 4 and Sooryavanshi.
Kesari is based on a real life Battle of Saragarhi that was fought between 21 Sikhs and 10,000 Afghans back in 1897. The film is seeing a release around the Holi festival and is produced by Karan Johar no less. A magnum opus in the offering, this one is made for big screen entertainment and would be finding quite some eyeballs for itself.
Housefull 4 is the biggest offering the successful franchise by Sajid Nadiadwala. Each of the first three Housefull films has been successful and now with this Farhad Samji directed affair promising to get into the Baahubali zone due to its reincarnation theme, one expects Diwali 2019 to be really big and bountiful once the multi-starrer comedy hits the screens.
As for Sooryavanshi, the film's announcement has come as a pleasant surprise, what with the Akshay Kumar and Rohit Shetty collaboration aiming for a Christmas release. Though an official announcement around the exact release date is yet to be made, rest assured the film would be huge once Akshay Kumar is seen in the role of a no-nonsense cop Veer Sooryavanshi.
As a one man industry, Akshay Kumar has ensured that his films make profits for all involved and bring in required entertainment for the audiences year after year. One just hopes that 2019 is no different when five of his releases hit the screens at a rapid pace and keep the box office bells ringing.
