‘Singham Again‘ and ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3‘ clashed at the box office this Diwali, as both the movies released on Friday, November 1. As both of these are franchise movies with a loyal fan base already, the trade expected that these two movies bring up a combined weekend of atleast Rs 200 crore. More so, as it was the Diwali festive and holiday vibe. The good news for the industry is, that the combined collection of both these movies of the opening weekend has crossed Rs 200 crore. Infact, it has made history as it’s the highest grossing opening weekend.
Thus, this has broken the record of ‘Animal‘ and ‘Sam Bahadur‘ weekend which was Rs 190 crore according to Box Office India. ‘Singham Again’ made Rs 121 crore as a combined total of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ made Rs 106 crore over the first three days. The combined total of the two, is estimated to be Rs 227 crore net in India which is a huge number. This is also the best news for exhibitors who were in desperate need to get people into the theatres, hence we had a barrage of re-releases a while ago.
This total has come up, despite the fact that both these movies had seen a dip on Sunday, which was expected as majority of the crowds flocked on Friday and Saturday due to the festive Diwali spirit and holiday. The numbers on Sunday night are anyway low as poeple have office on Monday. ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ have a tough competition to ‘Singham Again’ in places like North, Central and Eastern India and this weekend number is a sigh of relief to the industry.
This is also a proof that despite the clashes, movies with good content which entertains people, shall surely make a mark. But now the real test will begin from Monday onwards and it will be interesting to see, which film holds on better over the coming days and the second weekend.
