Rustom races towards a century (Rs. 100 crore nett collections) after crossing Rs. 75 crore in 5 days, decimating Mohenjo-Daro from the box-office sweepstakes. The corresponding figures are around Rs 40 cr., though the budget is about or more than double of Rustom's Rs. 50 crore!
The B-O performance of Rustom has proved superior to all Akshay Kumar films until now. Was this because it had a weak opponent on a holiday weekend? If so, what makes for a weak opponent? Let us analyze the films on the vital aspects that make or break any movie.
Audience Preferences
This is perhaps the first-ever time that a film with about 300 lesser screens has scored over a bigger screen-count film (Mohenjo Daro touched over 2600 screens against 2317 for Rustom). Part of the difference could perhaps be explained because Mohenjo Daro had more single-screens (as part of UTV's deal). But, this alone does not explain the chasm in the collections. By day 2, Rustom made Rs 30. 54 crore, and coincidentally, this was the exact figure notched up by the other film-but in three days!
The long weekend helped Rustom, but could not salvage Mohenjo Daro. On Day 5, the first 'normal' weekday, the former film notched up Rs. 7.67 crore as against Rs. 3.10 crore for the latter. Conventionally, it is believed that a hit to super-hit movie should make more than half of its opening day collection (Rs. 14.11 crore) on the first working day (in this case Tuesday) after the opening weekend. The former film passed the test, though this time it was day 5, not day 4.
Overall, the audience went totally towards Rustom. And why was that? Apart, that is, from the innate instinct it has always had for smelling a good movie, and even more so, a bad one. For starters, the August 15 weekend is about patriotism, and post-Namastey London, Holiday, Gabbar Is Back, Baby and Airlift, Akshay Kumar is the consolidated icon of desh-bhakti.
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