SKY FORCE MAY CROSS THE RS. 100 CRORE MARK BUT NO CELEBRATION IN THE INDUSTRY
The grand Republic Day release, Sky Force, opened in cinemas last Friday and the collections, on the face of it, have been encouraging. It was expected to open at Rs. 10 crores but instead, its collections on the first day were Rs. 13.50 crores. On Saturday, earnings jumped to Rs. 23.50 crores and Rs. 26.50 crores on Sunday. On Monday, the film dropped to Rs. 7.50 crores. The Tuesday collections were Rs. 5.50 crores. The first week earnings are expected to be around Rs. 84 crores.
However, there have been reports that these numbers are not organic. A prominent website, Box Office India, repeatedly mentioned that the film managed to earn so much thanks to the ‘external help’. This is also clear by the fact that many single screens from Mumbai will be playing just one show of Sky Force from tomorrow and the rest have been allotted to the upcoming release, Deva. Ideally, when a film collects so much, it should have had at least two shows daily.
As a result, there has been no celebration in the film industry despite such collections. Moreover, one doesn’t know how much the collections would be in the second weekend. especially if the ‘external factors’ continue to play out. The film should target the lifetime earnings of Airlift, which was also an Akshay Kumar-starrer in a similar zone. This 2016 Republic Day release earned Rs. 123.46 crores.
Meanwhile, the big release of the week is Deva, starring Shahid Kapoor and Pooja Hegde. It marks Malayalam director Rosshan Andrrews‘ first Hindi film. From the trailer, it seems to be a remake of Rosshan’s acclaimed 2013 Malayalam film, Mumbai Police.
The teaser of Deva got a roaring response. But then the buzz reduced. The songs haven’t made a mark and the impact of the trailer was not the same as the teaser. Shahid Kapoor’s last release, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, opened at Rs. 6.54 crores. Deva, hopefully, should cross this figure and if it manages to hold well, it’ll be able to succeed at the box office. A good word of mouth is very crucial for Deva.