‘Mangal Pandey’ Storms U.S.A., U.K., Australia

The verdict is loud and clear: MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING has stormed the Overseas box-office charts and emerged a success story. The historical has had an extensive release -- 63 screens in U.S.A. and 73 screens in U.K. -- clearly indicating that the market for a keenly anticipated Hindi film has grown in Overseas over the years.

In the U.S., MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING is off to an electrifying start, crossing the half-a-million mark in its first three days itself, which is huge. Its opening is not as aggressive in U.K., although the film has proved to be the biggest opener for Bollywood this year, besides featuring in the 'Top 10' charts this weekend.

To sum up, the first 3 days gross of MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING from these two markets [U.S., U.K.] alone has crossed the magical figure of Rs. 4 crores.

And this is for all the cynics who felt that the opening weekend of MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING wouldn't be better than LAGAAN: Aamir's latest movie has had a much bigger opening than LAGAAN in these two markets, in terms of numbers. The opening weekend of LAGAAN in U.S.A. was $ 285,368 and in U.K. £ 91,281.

Point to be noted is that the opening of MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING is still higher than the combined openings of the last three Aamir starrers in U.K.: DIL CHAHTA HAI [£ 57,600], LAGAAN [£ 91,281] and MELA [£ 58,614].

MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING has also had a fabulous start in Australia, grossing excellent figures despite six more films opening in the same week [WEDDING CRASHERS, KICKING AND SCREAMING, KUNG FU HUSTLE, MILLIONS, THE JACKET and LOOK BOTH WAYS]. In U.S.A. and Australia both, the film has overtaken all new releases, in terms of screen average.

Weekend: August 12 - 14, 2005.

U.K. BOX-OFFICE

• MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING has debuted at No. 10 position. In its opening weekend, the film has collected £ 220,259 [approx. Rs. 1.73 crores] on 73 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 3,017.

BIGGEST OPENERS IN U.K. - 2005

• MAINE PYAAR KYUN KIYA [last weekend: No. 14, this weekend: No. 18]: In its fifth weekend, the film has collected £ 10,422 on 9 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,158. Total: £ 513,596 [approx. Rs. 4.03 crores].





• VIRUDDH [last weekend: No. 13, this weekend: No. 19]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected £ 9,745 on 11 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 886. Total: £ 250,711 [approx. Rs. 1.97 crores].





• DUS [last weekend: No. 19, this weekend: No. 33]: In its sixth weekend, the film has collected £ 3,633 on 7 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 519. Total: £ 327,829 [approx. Rs. 2.58 crores].

TOP FILMS IN U.K.

[Based on screen averages]

U.S.A. BOX-OFFICE

• MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING has debuted at No. 21 position. In its opening weekend, the film has collected $ 531,018 [approx. Rs. 2.31 crores] on 63 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 8,429.

Note:- In terms of screen averages, MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING has overtaken the four Hollywood openers this weekend: FOUR BROTHERS [$ 8,360], THE SKELETON KEY [$ 5,795], DEUCE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO [$ 3,078] and THE GREAT RAID [$ 4,122]. The average is also better than the recently released biggies [this weekend] like THE DUKES OF HAZZARD [$ 3,437], WEDDING CRASHERS [$ 3,779], CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY [$ 2,243], FANTASTIC FOUR [$ 1,448] and WAR OF THE WORLDS [$ 1,610].

• VIRUDDH [last weekend: No. 52, this weekend: No. 67]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected $ 17,244 on 16 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 1,078. Total: $ 322,753 [approx. Rs. 1.40 crores].

NEW YORK CITY BOX-OFFICE

• MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING has debuted at No. 21 position. In its opening weekend, the film has collected $ 55,337 on 3 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 18,446.





• VIRUDDH [last weekend: No. 41, this weekend: No. 46]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected $ 4,176 on 2 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 2,088. New York total: $ 40,757.

AUSTRALIA BOX-OFFICE

[4-day weekend: August 11 - 14, 2005]

• In its opening weekend, MANGAL PANDEY - THE RISING has collected Australia $ 80,456 [approx. Rs. 26.71 lacs] on 7 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 11,494.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BIGGIES IN AUSTRALIA