Santastic business

For the past few years, filmmakers have opted to take on the last Friday of the year in an attempt to bring people to the turnstiles during holiday season.

A trade source explains: “It is a good period now, with people expecting a film to release at that time. Earlier, people were more in a festive mood and hence filmmakers opted to come earlier, but after Dangal released in 2016, Christmas has become an important release date. Two releases during Christmas have gone on to become all-time blockbusters in Hindi cinema.”

This year, the Karan Johar-produced Good Newwz is showing a collection of Rs 65 crores over the weekend, with a promise to grow further into the New Year.

Last year saw Ranveer Singh’s end of year release Simmba bring in an impressive Rs 240 crores at the turnstiles. The film completely overshadowed the previous week’s release Zero, produced by and starring Shah Rukh Khan. Similarly, the decent performance of Good Newwz has also meant that it has eaten into a significant portion of what could have been Dabangg 3’s collections. Incidentally, Karan Johar produced Simmba as well.

But 2017 saw Salman Khan take the cake when he released his film Tiger Zinda Hai in the last week of December. The film went on to net a whopping Rs 339 crore, thus securing its place as an all-time blockbuster in Hindi cinema. The film, also starring Katrina Kaif, was a sequel to Ek Tha Tiger.

Meanwhile, 2016 saw Dangal net over Rs 380 crore, which is significant because it came a few days after demonetisation hit the nation — other films were falling by the wayside and Indians were holding their purse strings tighter. Dangal again is an all-time blockbuster in the history of Hindi cinema.

Interestingly, 2015 did not see any big film release on December 25 even though it was a Friday. Both Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale came a week earlier on December 18 and clashed needlessly. Dilwale was majorly affected while Bajirao went on to do well.