Tag Archives: Begum Jaan

Streaming Video News: July 1, 2017

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Heera with two exciting new additions to the catalog. The 2017 movies Begum Jaan and Hindi Medium (which I loved) are now available for streaming. Both films got small theatrical releases in the United States, so this is a great opportunity to catch up on movies that were easy to miss. Better yet, watch them for free with Heera’s free 7-day trial.

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with more than twenty additions to the catalog, a mix of previously available titles and stuff brand new to the service. I’ve reviewed many of the films, including (click on the star-rating for my review):

Along with the Malayalam film Toymaker, the other Hindi movies added to Netflix today are Aankhen, Amrapali, Bheja Fry 2, Big Brother, Dashavatar: Every Era Has a Hero, Ishq Viskh, Lal Patthar, Liar’s Dice, Masti, Professor, Sarkar, and Yaar Gaddar. In the last month, Netflix has added almost fifty new Indian titles to its streaming catalog! For everything else new on Netflix — Bollywood or not — check Instant Watcher.

Bollywood Box Office: May 5-7, 2017

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Having passed Dangal as the top-earning Indian film in North America of all time before the end of its first week of release, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion padded its lead during its second weekend in theaters. From May 5-7, 2017, the fantasy epic earned another $3,390,132 from 430 theaters ($7,884 average; adjusted average of $8,110 from 418 theaters*), finishing in seventh place overall for the weekend. Its combined total from all languages is $16,350,570. Baahubali 2‘s second weekend total is about a third of what it earned during its opening weekend, which is good even by normal standards but especially when considering that its ticket prices dropped at the start of its second week of release (not to mention there were no more pricey IMAX showings over the weekend).

Other Hindi movies still showing in North American theaters:

  • Begum Jaan: Week 4; $2,200 from five theaters; $440 average; $126,828 total
  • Naam Shabana: Week 6; $86 from one theater; $262,843 total
  • Noor: Week 3; $80 from one theater; $79,373 total

*Bollywood Hungama frequently counts Canadian theaters twice in when they report figures for a film’s first few weeks of release. When possible, I verify theater counts at Box Office Mojo, but I use Bollywood Hungama as my primary source because they provide a comprehensive and consistent — if flawed — data set.

Sources: Box Office Mojo and Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama

Bollywood Box Office: April 28-30, 2017

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Baahubali 2: The Conclusion‘s opening weekend was absolutely massive, finishing in third place in the overall North American box office for the weekend of April 28-30, 2017. According to Gitesh Pandya: “No Indian film has ever opened this high on the U.S. box office chart before.” Baahubali 2‘s final weekend tally supplied to Bollywood Hungama by Rentrak was $10,392,055 from 431 theaters for an average of $24,111 per theater. Pandya noted that the 45 IMAX screens showing Baahubali 2 contributed $1.8 million to the total with average earnings of $40,000 per screen! Pandya tweeted that 66% of earnings came from the Telugu version of the movie, 22% from the Hindi version, and 13% from the Tamil version.

The small caveat to all the celebrations is that ticket prices for Baahubali 2 are higher than those charged for Hindi films in the United States in Canada, ranging from approximately $15-40, depending on language, date, and format (versus an estimated average ticket price of just under $9 in North America in 2017). With those higher ticket prices, Sumit Chadha notes on Twitter that Baahubali 2 need only sell a quarter of the number of tickets to surpass Dangal — which earned $12.3 million total here — as the highest earning Indian movie in North America.

That said, Baahubali 2 has set a new benchmark for what an Indian film can achieve under the right circumstances — and with proper promotion. Just getting Baahubali 2 into IMAX theaters created extra hype, making it seem like a must-see movie. Let’s see what lessons Indian studios and international distributors learn from Baahubali‘s success.

Other Hindi movies still in North American theaters:

  • Noor: Week 2; $7,202 from 20 theaters; $360 average; $77,910 total
  • Begum Jaan: Week 3; $4,609 from seven theaters; $658 average; $122,324 total
  • Naam Shabana: Week 5; $244 from four theaters; $61 average; $262,698 total

Sources: Box Office Mojo, Gitesh Pandya, and Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama

Bollywood Box Office: April 21-23, 2017

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Sonakshi Sinha’s Noor failed to make an impact at North American box office. From April 21-23, 2017, the comedy earned $49,595 from 69 theaters ($719 average; adjusted average of $840 from 59 theaters*). While we’ve seen more disastrous opening weekends this year, Noor‘s low per-theater average indicates that distributors expected a better turnout. This is the type of scenario I was thinking of when I wrote last week about why Begum Jaan‘s opening weekend earnings were good in relative terms.

Speaking of Begum Jaan, it took in $15,397 from seventeen theaters ($906 average) in its second weekend, bringing its North American total to $109,664.

In its seventh weekend of release, Badrinath Ki Dulhania finally squeaked past $2 million in the United States and Canada. It earned another $1,556 from three theaters ($519 average), bringing its total to $2,000,285.

Naam Shabana closed out its fourth weekend with $730 from four theaters ($183 average). Its total stands at $262,303.

*Bollywood Hungama frequently counts Canadian theaters twice in when they report figures for a film’s first few weeks of release. When possible, I verify theater counts at Box Office Mojo, but I use Bollywood Hungama as my primary source because they provide a comprehensive and consistent — if flawed — data set.

Source: Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama

Opening April 21: Noor

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One new Hindi film hits Chicago area theaters on April 21, 2017. The comedy Noor — which stars Sonakshi Sinha as a Mumbai journalist — is based on the novel Karachi, You’re Killing Me! by Saba Imtiaz.

Noor opens Friday at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago, AMC South Barrington 24 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of 1 hr. 47 min. (Yay!)

Begum Jaan carries over for a second week at the South Barrington 24 and MovieMax Cinemas in Niles.

Local theaters have announced showtimes for Baahubali 2‘s release on Thursday, April 27. Tickets are already available for a full week of shows at MovieMax, which carries Baahubali 2 in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi (all with English subtitles). If you want to splurge, four area theaters are showing Baahubali 2 on their IMAX screens, with 2D showings in Telugu and Tamil starting at 2:30 p.m. next Thursday: Century 12 Evanston in Evanston, Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale, Cinemark Tinseltown USA in North Aurora, and Cinemark at Seven Bridges in Woodridge. Be prepared to pay for the IMAX experience, with tickets ranging in price from $30-40. I expect other non-IMAX theaters to add showtimes sometime next week.

Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this weekend:

Bollywood Box Office: April 14-16, 2017

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The headline for Bollywood Hungama’s latest international box office report — “‘Begum Jaan’ fails to shine in the overseas” — is a bit misleading in regard to how the movie fared in North America during its opening weekend of April 14-16, 2017. From just 34 theaters*, Begum Jaan earned $65,812, for an average of $1,936. While that total may not look like much compared to those of Bollywood movies that open on 100+ screens here, it’s big relative to other films with a similar theatrical footprint.

Median opening weekend earnings for the six Hindi films that released in fewer than 60 North American theaters this year are about $12,000. The best performance prior to Begum Jaan was by Commando 2, which opened with earnings of $40,611 from 49 theaters (40 adjusted). Begum Jaan not only improved on Commando 2‘s total by about 60%, its per-theater average of $1,936 was also substantially greater than Commando 2‘s $829 average ($1,015 adjusted). For a movie that is the definition of a niche film — Vidya Balan plays a madam in a historical drama — Begum Jaan did pretty well in its first weekend. It will likely be the first Hindi film of 2017 to open in fewer than 60 theaters to ultimately earn more than $100,000 in North America.

The weekend’s big winner was the new Punjabi film Manje Bistre, which earned $241,971 from 39 American theaters ($6,204 average) and $385,147 from nineteen Canadian theaters ($20,271 average!).

Other Bollywood movies still showing in North America:

  • Naam Shabana: Week 3; $4,756 from eleven theaters; $432 average; $260,191 total
  • Badrinath Ki Dulhania: Week 6; $4,425 from four theaters; $1,106 average; $1,997,701 total
  • Phillauri: Week 4; $3,988 from three theaters; $1,329 average; $471,522 total

* Unlike my standard weekly caveat about Bollywood Hungama counting Canadian theaters twice, it looks like they got it right for Begum Jaan! Of course, that messes up all of my data which relies upon theater numbers being wrong in a consistent way, but whatever.

Source: Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama

Opening April 14: Begum Jaan

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One new Bollywood movie makes a limited debut in Chicago area theaters on April 14, 2017. The historical drama Begum Jaan stars Vidya Balan as a madam whose brothel falls right along the Partition line.

Begum Jaan opens Friday at MovieMax Cinemas in Niles and the AMC South Barrington 24 in South Barrington. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 9 min. (Programming note: Since Begum Jaan isn’t showing in a theater near me, I won’t review it this weekend. I will post a new review of another movie I really liked on Friday, so stay tuned.)

The only other Hindi film showing locally this Easter weekend is Naam Shabana, which carries over for a third week at Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville.

Other Indian movies playing in the Chicago area this weekend include: