Dilwale Enjoys The 3rd Highest Opening Weekend Of 2015

Of course, by Shahrukh Khan standards, these numbers may seem low since Happy New Year [104 crore] and Chennai Express [100.41 crore – including Paid Previews] were a runaway successes in the opening weekend itself. However if one looks at the first three days collections of (Tuesday release) Jab Tak Hai Jaan (49.22 crore) which clashed with Son of Sardaar, the numbers are much better.

While weekdays are now expected to hold well for the Shahrukh Khan-Rohit Shetty film, all eyes are now on the second weekend which has the big Christmas holiday coming up. That would give a good push to the overall collections of the film. While the film would enter the 100 crore club in the first week itself, it would be interesting to see how far does it go from this point on.

Meanwhile, the film has now scored the third highest opening weekend of the year after Bajrangi Bhaijaan [102.6 crore] and (Thursday release) Prem Ratan Dhan Payo [101.47 crore – first three days]

That said, one just feels that clashes between two biggies should most certainly be avoided as it not just divides the business in a big way but also ends up bringing in a lot of uncertainty around the eventual verdict that a film would enjoy. Since for last half a decade Bollywood has got used to the opening weekend and the first week pretty much deciding the overall fortune of a film, a situation like this where a three week run would decide the eventual Box Office standing almost seems unprecedented in today’s times.

Note: All collections as per production and distributor sources

Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder