Tag Archives: Housefull 2

Bollywood Box Office: June 3-5, 2016

Housefull 3 couldn’t top the success of Housefull 2 in North America. During the weekend of June 3-5, 2016, Housefull 3 earned $674,890 from 137 theaters ($4,926 average). That’s the fourth best weekend for a Hindi film in North America in 2016, but it’s $170,000 less than what Housefull 2 earned in its opening weekend in 2012. In fact, Housefull 3 earned just $30,000 more than what the original Housefull earned when it debuted on 55 fewer screens back in 2010.

Like its predecessors, Housefull 3 is going to earn over a million bucks in the United States and Canada, probably in the $1,350,000 range. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but it does clarify expectations for a potential fourth Housefull film.

The weekend’s highest grossing Indian film was the Telugu movie A..Aa, which opened in 126 American theaters on Thursday and earned $1,669,292 ($13,248 average over its first four days).

Other Hindi films still in US theaters:

  • Sarbjit: Week 3; $2,350 from seven theaters; $336 average; $242,790 total
  • Azhar: Week 4; $16 from one theater; $193,099 total
  • Baaghi: Week 6; $10 from one theater; $437,243 total

Source: Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama

Worst Bollywood Movies of 2012

With only a few days remaining in 2012, it’s time to summarize the year in film. First up, my ten worst Hindi films of the year. (Click on the title of each movie to read my original review.)

There’s always room for unfunny comedies on my “Worst” lists, and 2012 produced some spectacularly bad ones in Housefull 2, Bumboo, and Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal.

Dramas like Department (which unintentionally veered into comedy territory) and Married 2 America also made the cut.

Some of the most disappointing films of 2012 were aimed at families with young children. Joker and Delhi Safari failed to appeal to both kids and adults alike.

A common thread among three of the worst films of the year is the cinematic treatment of violence against women, specifically sexual violence. The lead character in the revenge drama Hate Story is blamed for her own rape, pregnancy, and forced sterilization because she made the mistake of falling in love with an evil man who wanted to ruin her life.

In the inept horror movie Ghost, the torture and dismemberment of a woman named Mary Magdallen — a Biblical figure often portrayed as a prostitute — is depicted in vivid, lingering detail.

One film goes beyond just depicting women as victims deserving of mistreatment by men. It actually promotes a stalker and sex criminal to the status of hero. My Worst Bollywood Movie of 2012 is Ekk Deewana Tha.

Ekk Deewana Tha is so reprehensible because it thinks it’s a heartwarming romance about star-crossed lovers. In reality, the film’s hero, Sachin (Prateik) should be jailed for what he does to the object of his desire, Jessie (Amy Jackson). Jessie repeatedly tells Sachin not to pursue her romantically, which he does by tailing her to work and following her around their apartment complex. As in real life, Jessie’s reasons for telling him to back off are immaterial. “No” means no, or at least it should.

At one point when they are alone in a train compartment, Sachin kisses Jessie despite her objections. Why? Because she was just so pretty that he couldn’t help himself.

Ekk Deewana Tha has been the leading contender for my worst film of the year for a long time, but it’s even more appalling in light of the fact that an Indian gang-rape survivor is currently battling for her life in a Singapore hospital. (Update: the 23-year-old gang -rape victim has died.) The notion that men can take whatever they want from women without consequence — worse still, that a man’s ceaseless pursuit of an unwilling woman is somehow virtuous — needs to die. A meaningful first step is for Bollywood to stop making vile movies like Ekk Deewana Tha that turn rapists into heroes.

Worst Bollywood Movies of 2012

  1. Ekk Deewana Tha — Buy at Amazon
  2. Ghost — Buy at Amazon
  3. Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal — Buy at Amazon
  4. Delhi Safari — Buy/rent at Amazon or iTunes
  5. Joker — Buy at Amazon
  6. Hate Story — Buy at Amazon
  7. Married 2 America
  8. Department — Buy/rent at Amazon
  9. Bumboo — Buy at Amazon
  10. Housefull 2 — Buy/rent at Amazon

Previous Worst Movies Lists

Opening May 4: Jannat 2

The Hindi thriller Jannat 2 opens in the Chicago area on May 4, 2012. Despite its title, the film is not a proper sequel to 2008’s Jannat. Emraan Hashmi stars in both movies but plays a different character in the new film. The title choice is confusing, but not unprecedented in Bollywood: Housefull 2 wasn’t a proper sequel to Housefull, either.

Jannat 2 opens on Friday at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles and AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington. It is rated R and has a runtime of 2 hrs. 13 min.

Friday also marks the American debut of The Avengers, which will command a lion’s share of screenspace at local multiplexes. Therefore, expect weekend showtimes to differ from weekday showtimes for Jannat 2 and other Hindi films playing in area theaters.

In spite of dismal opening weekend collections of $148,133 from 97 U.S. theaters, Tezz gets a second week at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30, Regal Gardens Stadium 1-6 in Skokie, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville.

By contrast, Vicky Donor earned $122,742 from just 50 theaters in its second week, bringing its total U.S. earnings to $357,743. Vicky Donor gets a third week at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30, and Cantera 17.

Housefull 2 gets a fifth week at the South Barrington 30, with total U.S. earnings of $1,566,991.

Other Indian movies showing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include Dhammu (Telugu) and Grandmaster (Malayalam).

One other movie of note opening on Friday is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The British film set in India opens in a handful of cities — including Chicago — on May 4, expanding to more U.S. theaters in coming weeks. Click here for a complete list of theaters carrying the film on Friday.

Opening April 27: Tezz

The Hindi action flick Tezz opens in the Chicago area on April 27, 2012. Tezz features Ajay Devgn and Anil Kapoor in a “ticking time bomb” thriller set on a train speeding from Glasgow to London.

Tezz opens on Friday at the Regal Gardens Stadium 1-6 in Skokie, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. It has a runtime of 2 hrs. 3 min. (Read my review of Tezz here.)

Despite modest earnings of $169,209 during its first weekend in the U.S., the clever comedy Vicky Donor gets a second week at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30, and Cantera 17.

Housefull 2 carries over for a fourth week at the Golf Glen 5 and South Barrington 30, having earned $1,503,059 in the U.S. so far.

Other Indian films showing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include Cobra (Malayalam), Mayamohini (Malayalam), Oru Kal Oru Kannadi (Tamil), and Dhammu (Telugu), which is also showing at the Cinemark at Seven Bridges in Woodridge.

This Friday also marks the streaming debut of recent Bollywood romance Chaar Din Ki Chandni and the Bengali film Flop-E on Mela. Chaar Din Ki Chandni spent a week in Chicago area theaters when it opened on March 9.

Opening April 20: Vicky Donor

One new Hindi movie is set to open in Chicago area theaters on April 20, 2012. The comedy Vicky Donor follows the troubled romantic life of a prolific sperm donor named Vicky.

Vicky Donor opens Friday at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. Its runtime is 2 hrs. 5 min.

Having earned $1,339,391 in its first two weeks in U.S. theaters, Housefull 2 gets a third week at all of the above theaters.

Other Indian films showing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include Mayamohini (Malayalam) and Rachcha (Telugu)

In Theaters April 13, 2012

There are no new Hindi movies opening in Chicago area theaters the weekend beginning Friday, April 13, 2012, but a couple of heavy hitters continue to commandeer local screenspace. After finishing in the top ten in U.S. box office returns in its opening weekend, Housefull 2 carries over at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. Kahaani gets a well-deserved sixth week at the South Barrington 30.

Other movies playing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include the Canadian thriller Pseudo: Blood of Our Own, The King & the Commissioner (Malayalam), and Rachcha (Telugu).

Movie Review: Housefull 2 (2012)

1.5 Stars (out of 4)

Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

When is a sequel not a sequel? Housefull 2 is a strange, boring spectacle that has nothing to do with 2010’s Housefull.

Okay, not precisely nothing. Both are wacky comedies about mistaken identities and concealing romantic relationships from one’s parents. Both starred Akshay Kumar and Ritesh Deshmukh. But Kumar and Deshmukh don’t play the same characters as they did in the first movie.

In Housefull, Deshmukh played a card dealer named Bob while Kumar played an unlucky doofus named Aarush. In Housefull 2, Deshmukh plays millionaire’s son Jolly, while Kumar plays a sleaze named Sunny. Sunny then pretends to be Jolly. Confused, yet?

Jacqueline Fernandez and Malaika Arora Khan were both item girls in Housefull and also return as different characters in Housefull 2. Fernandez plays Bobby (not Bob, Deshmukh’s original character), and Khan plays a different item girl.

Here’s where things get weird. Boman Irani plays a character named Batuk Patel in both movies, but it’s not the same Batuk Patel! In Housefull 2, Batuk seeks to marry off his only daughter, Parul (Shazahn Padamsee) to the son of his best friend, JD (Mithun Chakraborty). In the original Housefull, Batuk’s daughter is Hetal (played by Lara Dutta), which is incidentally the name of Batuk’s deceased wife in Housefull 2.

The only character and actor to make the transition from one movie to the next intact is Chunky Pandey’s funny half-Indian, half-Italian schmoozer, Aakhri Pasta.

As if all this half-baked crossover isn’t bad enough, the plot of Housefull 2 is thin and stupid. Two feuding half-brothers, Daboo (Randhir Kapoor) and Chintu (Rishi Kapoor), want to secure the richest husband in England for their respective daughters, Bobby and Henna (Asin Thottumkal). When Chintu insultingly rejects the family of one possible groom, Jai (Shreyas Talpade), the young man vows to get revenge by making sure Henna is dumped at the altar.

Jai is pals with Jolly, England’s most desirable bachelor. They hire their college friend, Max (John Abraham), to pose as Jolly and trick Chintu and Henna. Max accidentally gets engaged to Bobby, so Jai and Jolly call Sunny to trick Chintu. Max and Sunny hate each other, but Daboo and Chintu live in adjoining townhouses, and — OH, NO! — what if they see each other?!

This covers the first forty-five minutes of the plot. Things only get stupider and more annoying until the end of Housefull 2‘s unbearable 155 minute runtime.

In addition to the sloppy story construction, there are continuity errors throughout. Henna has a pet “crocodile” that is really an alligator. Sunny falls asleep in a raft out at sea, and when he wakes up in the raft the next morning after it washes ashore, there’s already sand on his shoes. Henna puts her finger to her ear to indicate that she’s talking on a Bluetooth headset, but she’s not actually wearing one.

All these mistakes — combined with the crap story– point to the fact that Housefull 2 is just a cash grab designed to trick people who enjoyed Housefull (myself included). A cast full of stars can’t save something this inept and nonsensical.

Links

Opening April 5: Housefull 2

The all-star comedy sequel Housefull 2 deviates from the norm, arriving in Chicago area theaters on Thursday, April 5, 2012. I feel like I’ve already seen the trailer a million times, but here it is again:

Housefull 2 opens tomorrow at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. On top of its 2 hr. 35 min. runtime, Housefull 2 will reportedly be preceded by six movie trailers. Read my review of Housefull 2 here.

After theater schedules adjust to accommodate new Hollywood films opening on Friday, both the Golf Glen 5 and South Barrington 30 will continue carrying over Agent Vinod and Kahaani. Agent Vinod‘s total earnings for its first two weeks in U.S. theaters are $632,446.

Other Indian movies showing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include 3 (Tamil) and Rachcha (Telugu).