Box Office: Ponniyin Selvan 2 Starts Well

When Ponniyin Selvan 1 (Hindi) released last September, it had taken a fair start at Rs 1.85 crore (Rs 18.5 million), and went on to have an ordinary trajectory over the weekend (Rs 7.60 crore/ Rs 76 million)). It held on reasonably well over a period of time and had a lifetime score of Rs 24.50 crore (Rs 245 million).

These weren't great numbers, considering the scale at which the Mani Ratnam film was made but since the original Tamil version scored an all-time record down south, the Hindi version was just a bonus.

That's exactly how things could turn out to be for Ponniyin Selvan 2 as well.

The opening day's collections was Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million), with the weekend number closing at Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million), though given the recall factor associated with big ticket multi-starrers, one expects 50 percent-70 percent better numbers, if not double.

The film saw a good release, with premium screens like IMAX and 4DX reserved for it as well, and that gave it a platform to fetch quite a few eyeballs on expensive ticket rates.

There was no competition from any new Hindi film either and the previous release Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan was low and primarily at single screens. So for the film to go past a Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) lifetime, it would need to be stable during the weekdays.

Meanwhile, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan will not be able to accumulate big moolah despite an entire open month available for it, since the trajectory has been rather low right through the weekdays and even on the second weekend, where it scored only Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million).

The good news for Salman Khan is that he has scored his 16th century, as the film has netted Rs 102 crore* (Rs 1.02 billion). Of course, this number should have come in much earlier as the film had seen a massive release at over 4,000 screens during Eid.

Still, at a time when very few films are working, there have been at least some footfalls.

The new release Bad Boy saw a meager opening and didn't find much traction from the audiences, as a result of which the collections have stayed under the Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) mark.

Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, the film starred newcomer Namashi Chakraborty and Amrin Qureshi.

*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.