Tag Archives: Kabali

Streaming Video News: December 15, 2017

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with twenty-nine new additions to the streaming catalog. Twenty of those titles are Marathi-language films, several of which star Atul Kulkarni. The Hindi movies added include the horror flicks 1920 and Rise of the Zombie and the 2017 indie releases Manostaan and Mantra. Netflix also added the Bengali and Hindi versions of Dark Chocolate, plus the Hindi-dubbed version of Rajinikanth’s Kabali. For everything else new on Netflix — Bollywood or not — check out Instant Watcher.

Bollywood fans may also want to check out the second season (titled “No Surrender”) of Netflix’s Ultimate Beastmaster, an obstacle course competition show featuring competitors from six countries, including India. The show’s Indian announcers are Vidyut Jammwal and Sarah-Jane Dias, who provide the main commentary track for the show’s broadcast in India and supplementary commentary for Netflix broadcasts in other countries. In the United States, Tiki Barber and Chris Distefano handle the main commentary, and Vidyut and Sarah-Jane show up to scold the Indian contestants when the fall off the obstacles (at least from what I’ve seen in the opening 15 minutes of the first episode). It’s a fun show, and I’m going to keep watching it.

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime because the Amazon original TV series Inside Edge — a fictional drama about a cricket team starring Richa Chadda and Vivek Oberoi — has been moved out of the Heera catalog and made available to Prime subscribers.

Bollywood Box Office: July 29-31, 2016

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Dishoom performed well in its opening weekend in North American theaters. From July 29-31, 2016, the action flick earned $435,497 from 111 theaters ($3,923 average). That was enough to finish in twentieth place overall in North America.

The shocking news from the weekend was how dramatically business for the Tamil/Telugu film Kabali fell in its second weekend of release. After earning nearly $4 million in its opening weekend, Kabali earned just $239,352 from 141 theaters ($1,698 average) in its second. That’s a drop of nearly 95%. Tickets for Indian films in languages other than Hindi cost more during their first week in North American theaters, but the price drop in the second week isn’t steep enough to explain such low returns. For example, in Chicago area theaters, opening weekend adult tickets were priced at $20 and up. As of today — Kabali‘s fourteenth day in theaters — two local theaters are still pricing adult tickets at $18, two at $10, and one at $4.50 (the Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale, for you bargain hunters out there). Kabali‘s total earnings in the United States and Canada stand at $4,436,528.

Back to Hindi films, Sultan is finally running out of steam. In its fourth weekend, it earned $83,785 from 41 theaters ($2,044 average), bringing its North American total to $6,107,827.

Other Bollywood movies still in theaters:

  • Madaari: Week 2; $18,328 from nineteen theaters; $965 average; $153,114 total
  • Dhanak:  Week 7; $40 from one theater; $12,939 total

Sources: Box Office Mojo and Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama

Bollywood Box Office: July 22-24, 2016

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Madaari quietly performed to expectations in North America on a weekend overshadowed by the titan Rajinikanth. From July 22-24, 2016, Madaari earned $94,268 from 61 theaters ($1,545 average) in the United States and Canada. That’s pretty good considering the competition: Rajinikanth’s Tamil/Telugu film Kabali, which took in nearly $4 million in its first four days.

The cannibalization of screenspace by Kabali and Hollywood blockbusters greatly reduced Sultan‘s footprint, throttling the film’s performance in its third weekend in North American theaters. Sultan earned $298,753 from 114 theaters ($2,621 average), bringing its total to $5,897,836.

Sultan‘s competition further increases this Friday with the release of the Varun Dhawan-John Abraham action flick Dishoom, so it looks as though my projections for Sultan were a bit on the high side last week. A $7 million total seems much less likely now, especially with Sultan poised to lose half of its remaining theaters on Friday. It could still surpass the $6.53 million made by 3 Idiots in 2009, but even that’s not a given.

Sources: Box Office Mojo and Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama

Opening July 22: Madaari

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Thanks to Kabali taking over every screen at MovieMax and construction work shuttering several screens at the South Barrington 30, the social drama Madaari is getting a very limited release in the Chicago area on Friday, July 22, 2016. The only local theater carrying the Irrfan Khan-starrer is the Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. The movie has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 14 min.

With so many screens either out of commission or devoted to Hollywood summer blockbusters, Sultan is set to lose a lot of local theaters come Friday. It gets a third weekend at the Cantera 17, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and one show per day at the Regal Round Lake Beach 18 in Round Lake Beach. That’s down from the nine theaters that carried Sultan during its first two weeks.

The only other Indian movie in town this weekend is Rajinikanth’s Kabali. Starting Thursday morning, Kabali shows in both Tamil (with English subtitles) and Telugu (no subtitles) at MovieMax Cinemas in Niles, Muvico Rosemont 18 in Rosemont, Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale, Cinemark at Seven Bridges in Woodridge, and Marcus Addison Cinema in Addison (Tamil only). It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 32 min.