Amidst a disappointing box office weekend for several new Hindi releases, Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted 3D: Ghosts Of The Past has emerged as a surprising success.
Key Points
- Haunted 3D: Ghosts Of The Past achieved a double-digit weekend collection, surpassing Rs 10 crore, despite zero promotion.
- Other major new releases like Main Vaapas Aaunga, Bharat Bhhagya Viddhata, and Governor struggled to cross the Rs 5 crore mark over the weekend.
It was a very dull weekend at the box office as there were no fireworks whatsoever from either new or holdover releases.
As many as five new Hindi films arrived together: Main Vaapas Aaunga, Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata, Governor, Haunted 3D: Ghosts Of The Past and Heer Sara.
Underperforming New Releases
Main Vaapas Aaunga was the biggest release, thanks to Brand Imtiaz Ali as well as a star cast of Diljit Dosanjh, Sharvari, Naseeruddin Shah and Vedang Raina. It got good reviews too.
Still, it barely crossed Rs 1 crore on its first day before seeing some growth over the weekend, closing around Rs 5 crore* (Rs 50 million).
Kangana Ranaut starred in as well as produced Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata.
This also struggled to cross the Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) mark and ended up with a poor weekend total of around Rs 4 crore* (Rs 40 million).
The Manoj Bajpayee starrer Governor, was produced by Vipul Shah, his next production after the successful The Kerala Story 2. While it managed first day collections of over Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million), the growth was minimum. As a result, the weekend collections crawled to Rs 4 crore* (Rs 40 million).
The road film Heer Sara didn’t even get a proper release and the weekend total was in the Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore (Rs 10 million to Rs 20 million) range.
Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day didn’t enjoy any hype and arrived with zero awareness. That reflected in the footfalls as well.
Even in the premium IMAX format, the film barely got an audience. With a weekend of around Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million), there isn’t much coming in for the film.
Haunted 3D‘s Unexpected Success
In the midst of this all, the film that surprisingly ended up doing well was Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted 3D: Ghosts Of The Past.
Released with zero promotion and marketing with national chains not even opening plans for the film at their multiplexes till Friday morning, the horror film relied on the genre and the recall value of the first Haunted 3D in 2011, which was a hit.
Yet, the film not only managed to cross Rs 2.75 crore (Rs 27.5 million) on its first day, but also grew over the weekend to hit a double digit weekend.
With more than Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) coming in, this small budget film, made with a lot of support from VFX and AI, is now on course to recover its budget and then make some profit.
As long as it brings in Rs 6 crore to Rs 7 crore (Rs 60 million to Rs 70 million) more on weekdays, and get screens in the next couple of weeks, it will earn the status of being a successful film.
*Estimates.
Note: All collections as per various box office source.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
