Category Archives: Box Office

Bollywood Box Office: June 28-30, 2019

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Article 15 had a nice opening weekend in North America. From June 28-30, 2019, the award-winning drama earned $386,920 from 104 theaters ($3,720 average), according to Bollywood Hungama.

Meanwhile, Kabir Singh continued its super run for a second weekend, taking in $451,411 from 144 theaters ($3,135 average). It held onto about 70% of its opening weekend business, making it one of only five Hindi movies to hold onto more than 50% it their opening weekend business here this year so far. Kabir Singh‘s total currently stands at $1,540,044.

Other Hindi movies still showing in North American theaters:

  • Bharat: Week 4; $18,385 from 19 theaters; $968 average; $2,907,118 total
  • Photograph: Week 7; $951 from two theaters; $476 average; $342,816 total
  • Game Over: Week 3; $293 from three theaters; $98 average; $146,044

Source: Bollywood Hungama

Bollywood Box Office: June 21-23, 2019

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Kabir Singh got off to a good start, posting the sixth best opening weekend total and per-theater average for a Hindi film in North America this year. From June 21-23, 2019, the Arjun Reddy remake earned $639,994 from 144 theaters ($4,444 average), according to Bollywood Hungama.

Other Bollywood movies still showing in North American theaters:

  • Bharat: Week 3; $63,816 from 46 theaters; $1,387 average; $2,856,353 total
  • Game Over: Week 2; $5,518 from 12 theaters; $460 average; $143,894 total
  • Photograph: Week 6; $2,135 from three theaters; $712 average; $339,441 total
  • De De Pyaar De: Week 6; $678 from one theater; $1,048,952 total

Sources: 143 Cinema and Bollywood Hungama

Bollywood Box Office: May 31-June 2, 2019

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The weekend of May 31-June 2, 2019, was predictably slow for Bollywood movies in North America because of the impending release of Salman Khan’s Bharat on June 5, but there’s also a real lack of audience interest in the Hindi films currently on offer. Three-week-old De De Pyaar De led the way with $64,458 from 52 theaters ($1,240), according to Bollywood Hungama. With $992,995 in earnings so far, the comedy is on the verge of becoming the tenth Hindi film to earn $1 million in North America this year.

That’s where the good news ends. Both of the films in their second weekend of release failed to average $1,000 in per-theater earnings. PM Narendra Modi took in $12,110 from 16 theaters ($757 average), bringing its total to $109,885. India’s Most Wanted was absolutely tragic, earning $18,111 from 80 theaters — a per-theater average of just $226, according to Box Office Mojo. Even with its large theatrical footprint (having opened on 110 screens), it’s only managed to earn $168,016 here so far.

Photograph is struggling as well. In its third weekend, it earned $44,234 from 81 theaters ($546 average), bringing its total to $302,463. That’s almost exactly what director Ritesh Batra’s previous film The Lunchbox had earned at the end of its third weekend back in 2014: $306,347. However, The Lunchbox was only showing in 18 theaters at the time and was averaging almost $5,000 per screen. The Lunchbox didn’t hit its peak theater count (165) until Week 9, and its per-theater average didn’t fall below $1,000 until Week 15. The Lunchbox finished its run with $4.2 million in earnings, but it looks like Photograph might top out at about 10% of that.

Student of the Year 2 closed out its fourth weekend with $751 from three theaters, bringing its total to $738,134.

Sources: Bollywood Hungama and Box Office Mojo

Bollywood Box Office: May 24-26, 2019

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May 24-26, 2019, was a bad weekend for Bollywood films in North America, both in terms of performance and available information. None of the popular resources reported box office data for either De De Pyaar De or Student of the Year 2.

The three Hindi films for which info exists all did poorly. India’s Most Wanted opened in 110 theaters and earned just $98,322 ($894 average), according to Box Office Mojo. The other new release — PM Narendra Modi — earned $52,643 from 49 theaters ($1,074 average), per Bollywood Hungama. And Photograph‘s second-weekend expansion into 123 theaters resulted in $130,750 in earnings ($1,063 average), bringing the drama’s total to $180,560. Definitely a Memorial Day weekend to forget.

Sources: 143 Cinema, Bollywood Hungama, and Box Office Mojo

Bollywood Box Office: May 17-19, 2019

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The romantic comedy De De Pyaar De got off to an okay start in North America. From May 17-19, 2019, it earned $425,934 from 104 theaters ($4,096 average), according to Box Office Mojo.

The weekend also marked the local debut of director Ritesh Batra’s Photograph, which released in India back in March. The drama earned $35,796 from 13 theaters ($2,754 average), though it will likely add theaters and expand to other cities in the coming weeks.

Student of the Year 2 didn’t hold up as well in its second weekend as its predecessor did. Back in 2012, Student of the Year carried over 40% of its opening weekend business into its second weekend, but SOTY2‘s holdover was just 22% — $103,381 from 189 theaters ($547 average). Look for it to lose a lot of theaters going into its third weekend. Its total stands at $724,058.

Other Hindi movies showing in North America:

  • Kalank: Week 5; $2,536 from six theaters; $423 average; $2,729,336 total
  • The Tashkent Files: Week 6; $1,411 from three theaters; $470 average; $66,831 total

Sources: Bollywood Hungama and Box Office Mojo

Bollywood Box Office: May 10-12, 2019

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Student of the Year 2 had a fine opening weekend in North American theaters. From May 10-12, 2019, the sequel earned $462,108 from 190 theaters ($2,432 average), according to Box Office Mojo. This year’s median opening weekend per-theater average is just over $3,000, and SOTY2‘s is well short of that. A $1 million final total here seems like a stretch.

Yet SOTY2‘s opening weekend is on par with Student of the Year‘s opening weekend back in October, 2012. The original also had an ambitious release strategy, opening in 106 theaters and earning $326,508 that weekend ($3,080 average). It ended its North American run five weeks later with $670,086 total. SOTY‘s second-weekend earnings were 40% of its first-weekend earnings, so let’s see if SOTY2 can match that.

Other Hindi films showing in North American theaters:

  • Kalank: Week 4; $13,839 from 19 theaters; $728 average; $2,729,336 total
  • The Tashkent Files: Week 5; $4,577 from two theaters; $2,289 average; $64,450 total

Sources: Bollywood Hungama and Box Office Mojo

Bollywood Box Office: May 3-5, 2019

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Kalank closed out its third weekend in North America with $84,217 from 85 theaters ($991 average), according to Box Office Mojo. Its total earnings stand at $2,699,301.

Other Hindi movies showing in North American theaters over the weekend:

  • The Tashkent Files: Week 4; $6,845 from five theaters; $1,369 average; $56,633 total
  • Kesari: Week 7; $1,807 from four theaters; $452 average; $1,904,557 total
  • Badla: Week 9; $76 from one theater; $1,863,375 total

Sources: Bollywood Hungama and Box Office Mojo

Bollywood Box Office: April 26-28, 2019

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Kalank‘s second weekend in North American theaters could have been worse, but it was still pretty bad. From April 26-28, 2019, the period drama earned $278,720 from 283 theaters ($985 average), according to Box Office Mojo. That brings its 12-day total to $2,482,587.

For perspective on Kalank‘s performance, I looked at the 25 most widely released Hindi films in North America since 2014 (excluding multilingual movies like Baahubali 2) to see how they fared from their first weekend to their second. Kalank released into the 8th highest number of theaters in its opening weekend (320), and it ranks 10th in terms of second-weekend theater count (283). Nevertheless, its second-weekend gross of $278,720 ranks way down in 18th (the median is $600,000). Its per-screen average of $985 is even worse, tied for 20th place with Zero. Only six movies among the 25 failed to average $1,000/screen in their second weekends here: Kalank, Zero, Jab Harry Met Sejal, Tubelight, Thugs of Hindostan, and Befikre. This is not a group any movie wants to be a part of.

To be fair to Kalank, it was up against literally the toughest box office competition of all time in Avengers: Endgame, which broke pretty much every record on its way to earning $1.2 billion globally in its opening weekend. That Kalank did as well as it did is kind of remarkable, especially since — at least in the Chicago region — a number of theaters gave Kalank only one showing a day at off-peak times in order to accommodate more showings of Avengers. Still, Kalank‘s underwhelming-on-paper showing will likely cause it to drop at least 2/3 of its remaining theaters in North America come Weekend 3.

Other Hindi movies showing in North American theaters:

  • The Tashkent Files: Week 3; $6,355 from five theaters; $1,271 average; $44,542 total
  • Kesari: Week 6; $1,972 from three theaters; $657 average; $1,901,536 total
  • Badla: Week 8; $348 from two theaters; $174 average; $1,863,181 total

Sources: Bollywood Hungama and Box Office Mojo

Bollywood Box Office: April 19-21, 2019

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Kalank stormed into North America with the biggest theatrical footprint of the year so far for a Bollywood film, but emerged from its first weekend with less-than-stellar results. From April 19-21, 2019, Kalank earned $1,276,581 from 320 theaters ($3,989 average), according to Box Office Mojo. Adding in collections from the period drama’s first two days of release brought its total to $1,786,766 by the end of the weekend. While Kalank is only the second movie this year to earn more than $1 million in its opening weekend in North America — Gully Boy being the first — it had 60 more theaters than Gully Boy in which to do so. Total Dhamaal was just $11,000 shy of $1 million in its opening weekend, and it only opened in 202 theaters. It was fair to expect better returns given Kalank‘s big theatrical advantage.

143 Cinema reports that Kalank earned another $100,000 on Monday, so it will head into the weekend with $2 million in the bank. I’m interested to see how the movie holds up in its second weekend and beyond since there are no new Hindi films likely to release in the United States and Canada until Student of the Year 2 on May 10 — although Avengers: Endgame is competition enough.

Kesari closed out its fifth weekend with $15,091 from seven theaters. Though that makes for a per-screen average of $2,156, its four US theaters contributed just $1,159 to its haul, according to Bollywood Hungama. Three Canadian theaters accounted for $13,923, making for a Canadian PSA of $4,641. Kesari‘s total stands at $1,893,451.

Other Bollywood movies still in North American theaters:

  • The Tashkent Files: Week 2; $11,592 from five theaters; $2,318 average; $35,058 total
  • Romeo Akbar Walter: Week 3; $1,408 from four theaters; $352 average; $226,901 total
  • Badla: Week 7; $640 from two theaters; $320 average; $1,862,767 total

Sources: 143 Cinema, Bollywood Hungama, and Box Office Mojo

Bollywood Box Office: April 12-14, 2019

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The North American box office was in a holding pattern during the weekend of April 12-14, 2019, in anticipation of the April 17 release of the guaranteed blockbuster Kalank. The only new Hindi film to open in North America on the 12th was The Tashkent Files, which made just $15,368 from 14 theaters ($1,098 average), according to Bollywood Hungama.

Other Bollywood titles fared little better over the sleepy weekend:

  • Romeo Akbar Walter: Week 2; $25,698 from 36 theaters; $714 average; $221,648 total
  • Kesari: Week 4; $19,650 from 16 theaters; $1,228 average; $1,862,580 total
  • Badla: Week 6; $8,286 from eight theaters; $1,036 average; $1,859,793 total
  • Gully Boy: Week 9; $422 from one theater; $5,414,386 total

Meanwhile, Andhadhun is burning up the Chinese box office to the tune of $30 million in two weeks! And I thought the $1.3 million it earned here in eleven weeks was impressive!

Source: Bollywood Hungama