Not surprisingly, we saw a rather successful end of 2016 with the Aamir Khan starrer Dangal that continues to rule the box office even after the New Year has begun. However, in the past few box office reports that we have analyzed about the performance of other films in 2016, it has always been Sultan that has held the position as the top grosser.
Even in the current report that takes a look at the Top Opening week collections of 2016, that is the earnings of these films on the first seven days, yet again the Salman Khan starrer Sultan has emerged victorious. Though Dangal started breaking records after tremendous word of mouth publicity, it has been Sultan that topped the first day, weekend and first week collections with Rs. 229.14 crores. On the other hand, Dangal registered the first week collections at Rs. 197.54 crores.
Interestingly, a trend that has remained common in almost all the recent box office reports of top grossers of 2016 is the success rate of sports films. As mentioned before, in previous box office reports, Sultan, Dangal and MS Dhoni- The Untold Story (opening week collections is Rs. 94.13 crores) continue to occupy the top three positions respectively.
On the other hand, the reports of opening week collections of the past few years show a varied trend compared to those of opening day and opening weekend collections. There has been a change amongst the films that have done well in a span of one week as some of them have moved to the top position. For example, in 2014, it was Happy New Year which registered higher collections during opening day and opening weekend compared to the Aamir Khan starrer PK and Kick. However, in the opening week collections, the trend seems to be different wherein PK topped the list with a collection of Rs. 183.09 leaving behind Happy New Year which came third in the list with a collection of Rs. 157.57 crores and the Salman Khan starrer Kick which took the second position with a collection of Rs. 164.09 crores.
However if there is one fact that was once again re-established is the high success rate of superstar Salman Khan yet again. The analyses of the previous reports indicate that this superstar Khan once again has emerged as the king of opening week. Besides Sultan in 2016, the actor boasts of ruling the top position in years 2015 and 2012 with two films occupying the top two positions in terms of opening week collections - Bajrangi Bhaijaan (Rs. 184.62 crores) and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (Rs. 172.82 crores) as well as EkTha Tiger (Rs. 154.21 crores) and Dabangg 2 (Rs. 106.78 crores) respectively. Even in years 2010 and 2011 the actor had set the trend with films like Bodyguard (Rs. 115 crores) and Dabangg (Rs. 81 crores).
Top Opening Week Year Wise and Star Wise
2016 – Salman Khan (Sultan)
2015 – Salman Khan (Bajrangi Bhaijaan)
2014 – Aamir Khan (PK)
2013 – Aamir Khan (Dhoom 3)
2012 – Salman Khan (Ek Tha Tiger)
2011 – Salman Khan (Bodyguard)
Top Opening Week Grossers of 2016
Sultan - Rs. 229.16 Cr.
Dangal - Rs. 197.54 Cr.
M.S.Dhoni - The Untold Story - Rs. 94.13 Cr.
Rustom - Rs. 90.9 Cr.
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil - Rs. 80.19 Cr.
House Full 3 - Rs. 80.1 Cr.
Airlift - Rs. 78.5 Cr.
Fan - Rs. 71.5 Cr.
Shivaay - Rs. 70.41 Cr.
Baaghi - Rs. 59.72 Cr.
