The first Friday of 2024 had no new movie releases, so the box office saw only Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) come in from current Hindi movies.
Since biggies like Dunki and Salaar ended 2023, no film-maker wanted to release a film so soon.
Moreover, films that release on the first Friday of the year rarely bring in footfalls.
Dunki and Salaar collected around Rs 3 crore (Rs 300 million) each from last Tuesday, January 2, till Thursday, January 4, on a daily basis, and then around Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) in the weekend gone by.
The Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dunki has earned Rs 220 crore (Rs 2.2 billion) so far and will eventually aim for a lifetime collections of about Rs 240 crore (Rs 2.4 billion).
Prabhas' Salaar [Hindi] will comfortably cross Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion), as it has already reached Rs 145 crore (Rs 1.45 billion). Both these films are above average affairs at the box office though they could have done better if they had not released together.
Coming up to revive the marquee is the Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi starrer Merry Christmas this week and Pankaj Tripathi's Main Atal Hoon arriving on January 19.
This will be followed by the biggest release of the month, Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone's Fighter.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.
