Since the first weekend of January 2013 approximately 42 Hindi films have released in the first Quarter of 2013. Out of these 42 films 37 were flops, 4 were average (because they were barely able to recover their cost) and only 1 (Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns) can be considered a hit because it was made for a miniscule budget of Rs. 7 crore and made a profit of approximately Rs. 3.6 crores for its distributor. 9 of the 42 films had a budget which equaled or exceeded Rs. 30 crores - out of these 9 only one (Special 26) managed a very tiny profit of Rs. 0.53 crores. Race 2 had the largest budget (Rs. 60 crores) of all the releases in the first quarter of 2013 and thus failed to recover its cost for the distributor even though it earned a colossal Rs. 96.34 crores in nett collections. Distributor's share of Race 2 was approximately Rs. 44.66 crores giving them a box office loss of Rs. 15.34 crores.
The biggest flop of the lot was DAVID - with a budget of Rs. 50 crores - it only managed Rs. 3.37 crores in nett collections providing a loss of Rs. 48.32 crores for its distributor. DAVID is directed by a fairly new director (Bejoy Nambiar) and has a cast of actors (Vikram, Tabu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vinay Virmani, Lara Dutta, Isha Sharvani, Monica Dogra) none of whom have had a movie earn Rs. 50 crores in nett collections for its distributor. Your guess is as good as mine as to why anyone would risk Rs. 50 crores on stars like these when PLAYERS and BLUE, which had much bigger box office stars, couldn't cross Rs. 30 crores in nett collection?Three films which had budgets of less than Rs. 15 crores (ABCD - AnyBody Can Dance, Jolly LLB, Mere Dad Ki Maruti) managed to recover their cost and sadly were the only bright spots in a remarkably dull first quarter. With IPL 2013 taking over for the next two months, the outcome of the first half of 2013 looks extremely grim.
BELOW IS A LIST OF THE BIG BUDGET RELEASES OF THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2013 AND HOW THEY PERFORMED AT THE BOX OFFICE:Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (Budget Rs. 33 cr)
VERDICT: Flop
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 38.06 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 18.41 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S LOSS = Rs. 14.59 cr.
Mumbai Mirror (Budget Rs. 35 cr)
VERDICT: Flop
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 1.84 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 0.895 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S LOSS = Rs. 34.105 cr.
Race 2 (Budget Rs. 60 cr)
VERDICT: Flop
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 96.34 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 44.66 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S LOSS = Rs. 15.34 cr.
David (Budget Rs. 50 cr)
VERDICT: Flop
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 3.37 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 1.68 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S LOSS: Rs. 48.32 cr.
Special 26 (Budget Rs. 30 cr)
VERDICT: Average
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 66.79 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 30.53 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S PROFIT: Rs. 0.53 cr.
Kai Po Che (Budget Rs. 30 cr)
VERDICT: Flop
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 48.40 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 21.97 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S LOSS: Rs. 8.03 cr.
Zila Ghaziabad (Budget Rs. 36 cr)
VERDICT: Flop
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 15.73 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 7.66 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S LOSS: Rs. 28.34 cr.
The Attacks Of 26/11 (Budget Rs. 30 cr)
VERDICT: Flop
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 13.60 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 6.46 cr.
DISTRIBUTOR'S LOSS: Rs. 23.54 cr.
Himmatwala (Budget Rs. 40 cr)
VERDICT: Flop
TOTAL NETT COLLECTIONS = Rs. 40.53 cr.*
DISTRIBUTOR'S SHARE = Rs. 20.27 cr.*
DISTRIBUTOR'S LOSS: Rs. 19.73 cr.*
*Based on First week collections only.
© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.
