Bollywood had barely finished celebrating a fantastic first quarter when along came several damp squibs that spoiled its report card. April and May 2019 have only seen average earners or complete duds. Even as B-Town biggies were licking the salt from their wounds, the highly-anticipated Avengers: Endgame hit the marquee on April 26. This Marvel Studios offering, which has been distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, has, to date, collected something to the tune of Rs 364.20 from India alone.
While Avengers is still collecting money in its fifth week, Bollywood movies are struggling to meet targets in their opening-day weekend. Trade sources say that the first big disappointment of April came when Kalank failed to live up to expectations. The collections of this multi-starrer, which had the best names in the business including Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, came to a standstill after a point.
Karan Johar, the man backing it, gracefully took the blame, saying, “I take the responsibility for what happened with Kalank. I’m the elder in comparison to director Abhishek Varman and I think, somewhere the onus of the film’s fate is on me.”
While movies like Blank with debutant Karan Kapadia and newly-elected Gurdaspur Member of Parliament, Sunny Deol, proved to be total duds, there were other projects that met with a mixed fate. Take the instances of Student Of The Year 2 (starring Tiger Shroff) and De De Pyaar De (toplined by Ajay Devgn). Both — SOTY2 in its third week and DDPD in its second week — have done average numbers so far.
However, they may continue adding a few crores to their final tally because the May 24 releases — India’s Most Wanted (featuring Arjun Kapoor) and PM Narendra Modi (in which Vivek Oberoi plays the protagonist) have found poor patronage. Vivek Agnihotri’s The Tashkent Files is a slow collector. But the conspiracy thriller has managed to get a fan following.
Before Bollywood could get its breath back, Disney has unleashed Alladin on them. This Will Smith-starrer has caught the fantasy of cinema lovers. Its collections over the opening weekend are Rs 18.5 cr in three days.
BOLLYWOOD RELEASES IN APRIL-MAY 2019
(Clockwise from top left) Kalank; Student of the Year 2; De De Pyar De; India’s Most Wanted; PM Narendra Modi
BOX OFFICE NUMBERS
KALANK: Rs 80 cr
STUDENT OF THE YEAR 2: Rs 67 cr
DE DE PYAAR DE: Rs 70.19 cr (Till Sunday, May 26)
PM NARENDRA MODI: Rs 10.25 cr (First 3 Days)
INDIA’S MOST WANTED: Rs 7.35 cr (First 3 Days)
ALADDIN: Rs 18.5 cr (First 3 Days)
AVENGERS: ENDGAME: Rs 364.20 cr (till Sun, May 26)
Approximate India Nett Box Office figures from reliable trade sources.
(tweets @ Meena_Iyer)