The much-talked-about film Samrat Prithviraj was finally released on June 3. The film has been in the news as it is the story of a legendary king of India, and also because it stars superstar Akshay Kumar in the lead. The buzz was limited due to which the film opened at Rs. 10.70 crore. However, the hope was that the film would pick up well on Saturday and Sunday. Sadly, Samrat Prithviraj showed a marginal growth on Saturday, collecting Rs. 12.60 crore. On Sunday, the collections were just Rs. 16.10 crore. As a result, the weekend collections amount to just Rs. 39.40 crore. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, which was released 2 weeks back and was a smaller film in terms of costs, had collected Rs. 55.96 crore in the first three days.
And as expected, Samrat Prithviraj saw a crash in some of the major centres of the country on Monday. Bollywood Hungama had reported on Monday night that the collections on Day 4 were Rs. 5 crores approx.
It has now come to light that as per the early trends for Day 5, Samrat Prithviraj has faced another fall on Tuesday. With the film collecting less than 50% on Monday as compared to Friday, the trade hoped that it would sustain at the same level as Monday. However, that hasn’t happened and going by the collections, it seems like the film will collect today in the range of Rs. 4-4.25 crore.
A source told Bollywood Hungama, “The business in Mumbai city was not up to the mark even on the weekends. Hence, it was bound to have a drop on Monday. Yet, we didn’t expect show cancellations in the morning due to zero audience. Where shows didn’t cancel, the occupancy was in the single digits. The scenario is similar on Tuesday as well.”
The source continued, “The situation was similar in Kolkata and Bengaluru. Delhi was marginally better. The film has put up well in Hindi belts. However, the metros with a high density of multiplexes and higher ticket rates underperformed on the first three days and hence these theatres are performing poorly from Monday onwards.”
An exhibitor on the condition of anonymity had told earlier in the morning, “All multiplexes were forced to play 6-7 or 10-12 shows of Samrat Prithviraj depending on the number of screens. It got far too many shows, due to which the occupancy was limited on the weekends as the demand was not there. From Monday, many multiplexes have reduced shows. Since the film didn’t pick up well on Monday evening, the shows were further reduced on Tuesday. The reduction of shows will happen on Wednesday and Thursday as well as if the trend continues”
Another source stated, “There was a slight growth for evening and night shows on Monday, which was bound to happen. However, the trend is not encouraging at all. Exhibitors should be ready for more show cancellations and poor footfalls till Thursday.”
An industry expert stated, “All is not lost for Samrat Prithviraj. The response has been decent, especially in the B and C centres. And let’s not forget that it has got tax exemptions in several states. There’s no competition for the film in non-2k states till the release of JugJugg Jeeyo. Hence, it’ll continue to hang around in cinemas for 3 full weeks.”
