The year 2012 has commenced on an unexciting note! The first release of the year, the expensive PLAYERS, shocked the industry with a lackluster opening of 20% to 30% in its opening and noon shows. At several screens, the opening response was as low as 15%, which must have come as a rude shock to its principal distributors who had acquired the India theatrical rights for an exorbitant price.
The general feeling, prior to its release, was PLAYERS would embark on a decent/strong start thanks to the superb promotion by Viacom18 and also Abbas-Mustan's goodwill [their last release RACE was a major success]. Besides, action films, generally, open very well in India, especially in the mass belt/single screens. But PLAYERS seems to have proved this theory wrong.
PLAYERS will have to show a turnaround in business by Friday evening, besides showing a big jump in collections on Saturday and Sunday, if it has to post respectable numbers in its opening weekend.
Play the video below to check out the audience reaction to "Players"
