‘Stree’, regional movies spring a surprise at box office

New Delhi: As expected, the month of August was bolstered by box office collections brought in by the extended Independence Day weekend. Akshay Kumar’s Gold and John Abraham-starrer Satyameva Jayate both stood out as releases of the month, with earnings of ₹ 102.35 crore and ₹ 79.05 crore respectively.

“The month of August is quite conducive as some of the biggest releases are slated for release around Independence Day. This year, it was Akshay Kumar-starrer Gold that entertained the audiences and struck a chord with its patriotic flavour,” said Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer, cinemas, at online ticketing site BookMyShow.

Film trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar, however, added that the two festive releases couldn’t exactly capitalize on their big openings. While Gold made more than ₹ 70 crore in its opening weekend, Abraham’s action thriller earned over ₹ 52 crore.

“Ideally, one would have expected 20-30% more business from them,” Johar said.

Also read: Regional films continue to trump Bollywood offerings

The other standout movie this month was Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor’s horror comedy Stree that has made ₹ 31.26 crore since its opening last Friday and has fantastic word-of-mouth going for it. Not too many other Hindi films managed to make a mark- Sonakshi Sinha-starrer Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Rajkummar Rao’s comedy drama Fanney Khan, Irrfan Khan and Dulquer Salmaan’s Karwaan, Rishi Kapoor and Taapsee Pannu’s critically acclaimed Mulk and action comedy Yamla Pagla Deewana: Phir Se only collected ₹ 18.08 crore, ₹ 10.55 crore, ₹ 19.03 crore, ₹ 20.94 crore and ₹ 6.32 crore respectively.

The Hollywood releases of the month, though big-ticket, failed to make a mark. Science fiction thriller The Meg and Mark Wahlberg’s espionage action thriller Mile 22 only made ₹ 8.35 crore and ₹ 29 lakh respectively.

The really big numbers, this month, however, came from regional cinema. While Gujarati film Shu Thayu? made ₹ 6.51 crore within four days of release, Telugu romantic comedy Geetha Govindamhas earned ₹ 93 crore worldwide. Punjabi comedy Mar Gaye Oye Loko has also opened well last week at ₹ 1.8 crore.

To be sure, there is much to look forward to next month. Starting with gothic supernatural Hollywood film The Nun this week, the fifth installment in the popular The Conjuring series, there is Anurag Kashyap’s romantic comedy Manmarziyaan and Vishal Bhardwaj’s comedy drama Pataakhalater in the month.

“Leading the pack this month should be Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma’s Sui Dhaaga-Made In India,” Johar said.

All figures have been sourced from movie website Bollywood Hungama.