Finally the big one is all set to hit the screens. The year so far has seen only one superstar release so far – Akshay Kumar’s Airlift. The film also holds the record for the Best Opening Day [12.35 crore], Best Opening Weekend [44.3 crore], Best Opening Week [83.5 crore] and Highest Lifetime [129 crore] in 2016. Ever since then, only three other Bollywood films have scored – Neerja, Kapoor And Sons and Ki And Ka, each of which is a multiplex success. Ironically, the only universal success other than Airlift is Hollywood flick The Jungle Book.
The Shah Rukh Khan starrer is much awaited and is coming with the right buzz and hype around it. Understandably, YRF and Shahrukh Khan haven’t gone ahead and pitched it as a Blockbuster a la Dhoom 3 or Dilwale. The reason is simple – the Maneesh Sharma directed film is more of a word-of-mouth affair and while it is quite obvious that the opening would be quite good, it would be impractical to look at a Day One of 25-30 crore.
Shah Rukh Khan’s still from the movie Fan
For now, the record of Non Holiday Highest Day One is enjoyed by Aamir Khan’s Dhoom 3 [36.22 crore]. It was closer to the Christmas Holiday though when holidays had kick-started. After that, at the second place is Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani [19.45 crore] which had come on a regular Friday. At the third place is Ek Villain [16.7 crore], and as can be seen, the gap is turning bigger and bigger.
While it is a given that Fan would go past the Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone starrer (which by the way was powered by chartbuster all-around popular music), the more practical scenario for the film looks like 20-25 crore Day One. Anything more than that would be a huge bonus for the film to enjoy and consolidate upon.
