Almost 18 months after the December 27 release, Good Newzz, Akshay Kumar has returned to the big screen with the action thriller, Bell Bottom. The movie has been released in India on about 1,500 screens with 4,500 plus shows, however, there is an occupancy cap of 50% at most places due to Covid 19 pandemic. Most states don't have the routine night shows too due to restrictions imposed by the respective state governments. According to early estimates, the movie has collected in the range of Rs. 2.75 crore to Rs 3.25 crore on it’s opening day at the box-office in India. Of the total capacity that it had on the opening day, it recorded an occupancy of 15% through the day.
The opening is more or less in the same range as the March 2021 release, Roohi [Rs. 3.06 cr.] fronted by Janhvi Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao. The day one figures are however, higher than John Abraham and Emraan Hashmi’s gangster drama, Mumbai Saga [Rs. 2.82 cr.]. However, the major drawback for Bell Bottom lies in the fact that the film has not been released in a major market like Maharashtra, which contributes nearly 30% to the business of a feature film. With Maharashtra, the movie would have raked in collections around the Rs. 4.25 crore to 4.50 crore mark in the current scenario.
Bell Bottom is the first Hindi film to be released on the big screen after the second wave of pandemic. The industry is pinning hopes on the film to put up respectable figures and start the wheel of cinema halls again. The general pre-release expectation of the trade from day one of Bell Bottom was in the range of Rs. 5 to 6 crores, and the estimates are lower than the general expectations of trade experts.
Opening in the range of Rs. 3 crore mark suggests an extended four day weekend of approx. Rs. 15 crore plus, if the film shows usual trend as they did in the pre-covid times. For those unaware, Bell Bottom is directed by Ranjit Tewari and produced by the Bhagnani’s under their banner, Pooja Entertainment. The movie also stars Vaani Kapoor and Lara Dutta in key roles.
