Box Office India Trade Network
The new releases this week are EMERGENCY and AZAAD which have support from Cinema Lovers Day but they will not be able to collect the sort of numbers needed despite this helping hand. EMERGENCY is better as it has a set target audience in the metros and it reaches that audience in its capacity. AZAAD is a film for the circuits but it will not even reach that audience with a trailer which is devoid of any mass element and has a new cast. Ajay Devgn is there in the film but there is no scene in the trailer that can attract the public. Basically EMERGENCY will get collections in metros and that will be the difference between the two films.
The previous AZAAD films have proved to be huge hits with a huge BLOCKBUSTER in 1955 and a SUPER HIT in 1978 but this time, the name is unlikely to bring any luck. There was also the re release of SATYA and this film was totally rejected by most of India in 1998 with dismal collections but proved to be a blockbuster in the Mumbai/Maharashtra belt with help of tax exemption.
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EMERGENCY and AZAAD could not benefit much from Cinema Lovers Day as both films opened to very low collections but as PUSHPA 2 – THE RULE could not take benefit of Cinema Lovers Day, it was asking a lot from these two films. EMERGENCY is a film about former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi while AZAAD seems a film about a horse.
The target audience for EMERGENCY is the metro audience while for an animal film, it is the circuits but the treatment of this film is such from the trailer that it would hardly reach that audience which is not the case with EMERGENCY. Hence, it came out with better collections and as for the metros its likely to have a better trend.
AZAAD collected 1.40 – 1.50 crore nett on day one which is low and how low this number is will be known on Saturday. As mentioned above, a film on an animal has to have mass circuits on side as it will not interest the big centres. For that audience, you need commercial elements and here there is hardly anything there. The films look too subtle and subdued which is treatment for the classes who have no interest to watch animal films.
EMERGENCY collected in the 2.00 – 2.10 crore nett as it collected better in the national chains than AZAAD and that is where the gap is between the films. Collections outside these big chains have a lesser gap but still EMERGENCY has a little edge. Due to the film having a target audience of metro multiplexes, it should trend better than AZAAD on Saturday but growth post Cinema Lovers Day cannot be much.
Overall, its a struggle for both films as these collections are just too low at these discounted rates. The discounted rates could not bring in much of an audience for either due to films holding little interest.
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The box office saw positive results on Saturday as the running films posted decent numbers considering they came after Cinema Lovers Day when the norm is drops in collections. The doubt was there on Friday that Cinema Lovers Day did not work as the previous ones this time and the Saturday numbers sort of confirm that.
AZAAD saw a minor drop on day two collecting around 1.25 crore nett on day two which takes its number to around 2.75 crore nett. The trend is the worst out of the films running as its the only film to show a drop post Cinema Lovers Day; that itself puts this film in a bad position. The film will notch up a 4 crore nett plus weekend which is nothing for the film as it has a reasonably big budget especially for a new cast.
EMERGENCY saw a good jump as collections went to 3 crore nett from a 2 crore nett Friday which is a healthy 50% jump. A 50% jump post a discounted Cinema Lovers Day is actually a big jump but obviously Cinema Lovers Day did not really get a response which has enabled this film to grow well on Saturday. The trend here seems like it was a pretty much normal Friday and maybe giving the film a 20-25% boost only.
The two day numbers of the film are around 5 crore nett and Sunday will tougher for major growth as its a metro multiplex film. However, since its a political film and if external support comes from the right places like THE SABARMATI REPORT, then you can never tell with these type of films.