Written by Zaryan Khawar and Momin Ali Munshi
Two big local releases, Yalghaar and Mehrunisa V Lub U, hit the cinemas on Eid-ul-Fitr 2017, along with three imported ones, Transformers, Despicable Me 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean. All the movies did fairly well at the ticket windows but how well did they actually do? Did they do better than last Eid? Would the release of Tubelight have had made any difference? Who all actually came to see these films in cinemas? And what does the future hold? Well, let’s find out!
Mehrunisa V Lub U and Yalghaar together have amassed 20.4 crores over the 7 days week whereas last year’s Eid release Sultan alone did 23.85 crore in one week! So obviously the films weren’t able to beat last year. What’s further disheartening is the fact that numbers this Eid have been less despite an increase in the capacity of box office with many new cinema additions over the year with major ones being Universal Cinemas (total of 9 screens), Cinepax Cinemas (Amanah Mall, WTC Giga Mall), latest IMGC multiplex and some more.
Furthermore, when we went out to watch the movies in cinemas, there was this trend we observed that a certain set of audience, which is basically the multiplex audience did not come out of their homes. It was the masses who had filled all the cinemas whether it was a Shabistan or a Royal Palm, Capri or an Atrium.
That one section of the audience staying away from cinemas, is definitely not a good sign, because in Pakistan multiplex audience is a big driver of business. Actor in Law, Jawaani Phir Nahi Ani, Na Maloom Afraad are movies which have all been box office successes because they appealed to all kinds of audiences. One wonders, would the case have been different had Tubelight released?
It is a well-known fact now that Tubelight has failed at the Indian box office and that too badly. But the point stays because the box office for every country is different because of different audiences. Fan and Brothers were big failures in India but both did well in our market. Eid is a festival when people are coming out to watch movies, and a Salman Khan movie could have brought out the audience which was missing in the theaters. Multiplex and the Single Screen!
In 2015 there was a similar combination where one Salman Khan film (Bajrangi Bhaijan), one Humayun Saeed film (Bin Roye), and one Danish Taimoor film (Wrong Number), released and all did well. A huge chunk of the crowd was pulled in by Salman Khan which also benefited our local releases. Business this Eid could have been much higher had all movies played together this Eid! Now, what does the future hold for the Eid releases?
Both Yalghaar and Mehrunisa V Lub U saw a fall of 50% drop in collections on Monday as compared to Friday which was expected as Monday was a working day:
Yalghaar
- Friday 1.3 crore
- Monday 0.55 crore
- Total eight-day collection: 12.5 crore
Mehrunisa V Lub U
- Friday 0.90 crore
- Monday 0.45 crore
- Total eight-day collection: 8.95 crore
Now, given these numbers are for Monday, it seems that when the eleven-day extended week-one for both these films will end, Yalghaar will be somewhere around 14 crore whereas Mehrunisa V Lub U will be around 10.3 crore.
When the second week begins on Friday these films will have tough competition as Hollywood biggie SpiderMan and Bollywood biggie Mom (which also stars Sajal Aly and Adnan Siddiqui) will be releasing. A huge chunk of Yalghaar and Mehrunisa V Lub U shows will be distributed between the new releases and it will become challenging for these films to be able to rake in big numbers. The next Friday, 14 July, will see Project Ghazi, Jagga Jasoos and Planet Of The Apes releasing and this will further reduce the shows and make it even harder to make money!
So it pretty much seems that the major chunk of box office for both the films will already have been collected by this Friday with the coming weeks only adding a little bit more.
Therefore according to our prediction ‘Yalghaar’ will touch the 18 crore mark while Mehrunisa V Lub U will make it to 14 crore!
Let’s see how accurate our prediction stand at the end of the run. Stay tuned to Galaxy Lollywood.
All box office numbers used in the article have been obtained by independent box office tracking site Box Office Detail.
