A section of the industry was under the impression that 99 would have a moderate start at the box-office, in view of the fact that the audience has been starved of movies since the past few weeks. With 99 opening at plexes and single screens, it was felt that the film would fetch a 30% - 40% start at plexes mainly, but the opening was as low as 10% - 15% at places.
This writer spoke to two prominent distributors/exhibitors outside of Mumbai and both felt that two factors went against the film: Not too aggressive promotion and its title. However, they also added that the reports are positive, which means that there's a glimmer of hope on Saturday and Sunday.
