What seemed like a dead month for the exhibition circles has proven to be a gold mine instead, what with The Kerala Story turning out to be a blockbuster and now IB 71 doing its own bit as well to bring in some audience. All wins, be it big or small, need to be celebrated and here even though the box office response is absolutely diverse, the good part is that the momentum is there, and audiences are stepping out and keeping auditoriums engaged.
Let’s talk about The Kerala Story first. The film has been seeing very good numbers during the weekdays as well, what with Tuesday standing at Rs. 9.65 crores and now Wednesday also holding very well at Rs. 8.03 crores. The fact that this is still almost the same as the first day collections of Rs. 8 crores shows that the momentum is pretty much on the film’s side and it’s very likely that the numbers would go below that only on Monday, unless there is some sort of dip today and tomorrow due to the release of Fast X. That would still be academic though since the all-time blockbuster status is already there for the Vipul Shah production, which has netted Rs. 164.65 crores so far.
As for IB 71, it’s bringing in footfalls on a consistent basis and that gives hopes of a fair second week ahead as well. The film didn’t go below the Rs. 1 crore mark on Monday (Rs. 1.08 crore) and Tuesday (Rs. 1.07 crores), and the story is pretty much the same on Wednesday as well with Rs. 1 crore* coming its way. The film is trending better than Vidyut Jammwal’s last release Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 and has now entered double digits on the sixth day itself. The Sankalp Reddy directed spy thriller has reached Rs. 10.43 crores* already and would close around Rs. 11.25 crores before stepping into the second week.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
