ALL EYES ON SNOW WHITE; WILL THE DIPLOMAT GO THE LAAPATAA LADIES WAY?
Last week’s big release The Diplomat has brought cheers in the trade and industry. The film was hardly promoted and there weren’t many expectations from it. It was predicted that it would open at Rs. 3 crores at best. However, it managed to open at Rs. 4 crores. The Holi effect played a role; yet, it was a pleasant surprise.
The film didn’t see huge jumps on Saturday and Sunday when it collected Rs. 4.50 crores and Rs. 4.65 crores respectively. But this was expected as collections saw a boost on Friday. It dropped to Rs. 1.50 crores, which is more than 50% compared to Friday. It raised alarm bells but at the same time, since Friday collections were higher than normal, the drop is not that big. In fact, it collected the same amount – Rs. 1.50 crores – on Tuesday, which is a good sign.
The Diplomat will collect Rs. 19 crores in the first week. It has an open run this week. Next weekend, it’ll have a clean window on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29. Salman Khan’s big Eid release, Sikandar, will arrive on March 30 and then, it’ll lose a chunk of its shows. Hence, it has time until March 29 to collect as much as possible. A lifetime of Rs. 35 crores can be expected. But certain well-accepted films tend to keep collecting and hence, if this film manages to have a lifetime of Rs. 40 crores, then nothing like it.
Parallels can be drawn with last year’s Laapataa Ladies. After having low but decent collections in the first weekend, the collections dropped to Rs. 50 lakhs on Monday. Many predicted that it’ll end up collecting less than Rs. 10 crores. But the film continued to collect, at low levels, and had a lifetime of Rs. 20 crores. What helped the film was a clean window which The Diplomat doesn’t have. Yet, like Laapataa Ladies, it has word of mouth on its side. Even after Sikandar’s release, it has one more weekend where it can score with limited shows. The showcasing can also go up if there’s demand.
Meanwhile, tomorrow will see the release of two Hindi films, Tumko Meri Kasam and Pintu Ki Pappi. Both films have limited buzz and will go unnoticed. The big release of the week is Snow White. It has faced a lot of controversy due to its casting. But at the same time, the presence of Gal Gadot of Wonder Woman fame and the backlash has also kept the film in the news. Moreover, it looks like a family entertainer.
If all goes well, Snow White can go the Beauty And The Beast way. That film had collected Rs. 1.40 crores on its first day. That type of earnings might not be possible but if it can collect around the Rs. 1 crore mark, it’ll be a decent result for the film. Such films collect majorly on the weekends as families flock to see the film while weekdays are low. As a result, after a decent first weekend total, it’ll have a chance to put up another good total next weekend. However, all this depends on word of mouth.