 "EXCLUSIVE! Box office morning occupancy report: Shraddha Kapoor's Stree 2 takes a blockbuster start, beats Akshay Kumar's Khel Khel Mein & John Abraham's Vedaa by a huge margin")
The Independence Day weekend saw the arrival of three Bollywood films - Stree 2, Khel Khel Mein and Vedaa. While Rajkummar Rao & Shraddha Kapoor starrer took a blockbuster start, Akshay Kumar’s comedy & John Abraham’s opened low in the morning shows.
Talking about the morning box office occupancy report, Prominent film distributor, multiplex owner & film analyst Raj Bansal told Firstpost, “ _Stree 2_ started with the paid preview last evening and it collected about Rs 8.25 crores there. The early morning shows are almost 90-100 per cent. Before the advance booking opened, I was looking at Rs 23-24 crore, but as of today when I talk to you I am expecting the day one collection around Rs 37-38 crore, excluding paid previews.”
Akkshay Rathie, Director, Aashirwad Theatres Pvt Ltd and prominent trade expert also spoke about director Amar Kaushik’s directorial’s dominance and said, “Stree 2 is open to blockbuster occupancy where there are lots and lots of household shows. There are many at 60, 70, and 80% occupancy across the country and that’s phenomenal. Vedaa and Khel Khel Mein are relatively off to a slower start with low occupancy. But both of these films are, you know, independent new films. They don’t belong to a franchise and they are the kind of movies that will rely on word of mouth for them to grow from strength to strength.”
When questioned about the opening day collection of Khel Khel Mein & Vedaa, Raj Bansal replied that both films will earn around Rs 5.50-6 crore on their first day. He added, “They are decent films. If they were released without a clash they would have done much, much better. Maybe about 30-40% better than what they will do now. But because Stree 2 is a one horse race it will dent majorly to these two films.”
Both trade experts are expecting Stree 2 to be a huge money-spinner in the longer run. While Bansal said, “The lifetime business as of now I look at Stree 2 is about 250 crores,” Rathie asserted, “The 22nd weekend is absolutely vacant. The 29th weekend is absolutely vacant. And with these phenomenal reports in this sort of word of mouth, I have no doubts about the fact that Stree 2 will go on to do phenomenal numbers and Rs 300 crore is absolutely a possibility for it.”
Rathie also shared that the response of Stree 2 is a case study and said, “I think this is one fantastic case study which shows us that despite the lack of a star, despite the lack of any pr gimmicks, despite the lack of any inflation or whatever of numbers, a movie has the ability to do these numbers purely on the merit of the writing, the entertainment value, the direction in smart marketing. So, yes, it’s a fantastic case study that all of us in the industry can really learn from.”
When both experts were questioned about films which can become box office blockbusters, they unanimously took the names of Singham Again, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Pushpa 2.
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