Bollywood Box Office: July 4-6

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July 4-6, 2014, wasn’t a great weekend for new Bollywood fare in North America. Lekar Hum Deewana Dil reaffirmed how hard it is to launch new talent overseas by earning just $10,529 from 33 theaters in the U.S., according to Bollywood Hungama. Its $319 average per theater is sixth worst for the year.

Bobby Jasoos wasn’t the hit I’d hoped it would be. Its earnings of $143,559 from 71 theaters in the U.S. and Canada ($2,022 average) is still in the top half for the year among opening weekends. Still, given how cute, accessible, and family friendly it is, I’d expected better.

One possible explanation is that — with the exception of superhero flicks like Krrish 3 and Ra.One — kid-friendly Hindi fare is a hard sell in North America. Compared to other family oriented films of recent years, Bobby Jasoos actually performed well (figures below are total North American earnings):

Bobby Jasoos producer Dia Mirza tweeted:

There’s a need for movies like this. However, those movies have to be high quality. I wouldn’t recommend any of the movies in the list above. Perhaps years of uninspired family fare has parents feeling burned, and they simply stayed home rather than take the risk on Bobby Jasoos.

Several other Hindi films remained in theaters. In its second weekend, Ek Villain earned $115,022 from 78 theaters ($1,475 average), bringing its total in North America to $678,258.

Now in its nineteenth week, The Lunchbox added another $7,302 from five theaters to bring its total earnings to $4,004,347.

Humshakals earned $304 from three theaters, bringing the total from its three-week theatrical run to $412,000.

Holiday closed out its fifth week by earning $274 from one theater. Its North American total stands at $840,628.

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