Box office report card: Kesari, Uri, Total Dhamaal make it a good year for Bollywood

The year began on a positive note at the box office and it continues to witness one big hit after another with new blockbusters releasing every month. After Vicky Kaushal’s Uri: The Surgical Strike made history with collections nearing Rs 250 crore, Akshay Kumar’s Holi release Kesari has got the cash registers ringing with a thunderous opening of Rs 21.50 crore and is now the highest opening film of the year in India.

All from Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt’s Gully Boy to Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgn’s multi-starrer comedy Total Dhamaal managed to make over Rs 100 crore at the domestic box office. Because it released on Holi, Kesari was expected to witness a slow start as the movie theatres and cinemas remain shut in the first half of the day. But the film went on to become the second highest opener of Akshay’s career after his last film, Gold opened at Rs 25 crore last year. Also starring Parineeti Chopra, Kesari is expected to record higher figures during the weekend.

Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh took to Twitter to share the collections of the best opening films this year. He tweeted, “Top Opening Day biz - 2019...1. #Kesari ₹ 21.50 cr [Thu] 2. #GullyBoy ₹ 19.40 cr [Thu] 3. #TotalDhamaal ₹ 16.50 cr 4. #CaptainMarvel ₹ 13.01 cr Note: ₹ 10 cr+ openers. India biz.#Kesari is Akshay Kumar’s second biggest opener, after #Gold [₹ 25.25 cr; #IndependenceDay].”

Two more releases in February -- Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu’s Badla and Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon’s Luka Chuppi-- have recorded great response at the box office and are already hits, though they are still a distance away from the Rs 100 crore mark. While Badla stands at Rs 79 crore, Luka Chuppi has collected Rs 87 crore.

Taran updated the box office figures of Badla on Twitter. “Badla shows excellent hold in Week 2... Crosses lifetime biz of #102NotOut and #Pink... [Week 2] Fri 4.05 cr, Sat 6.70 cr, Sun 8.22 cr, Mon 2.80 cr, Tue 2.60 cr, Wed 2.60 cr, Thu 2.35 cr. Total: ₹ 67.32 cr. India biz. Gross BOC: ₹ 79.44 cr.”

He also updated Luka Chuppi’s box office figures in his tweet, “LukaChuppi biz at a glance...Week 1: ₹ 53.70 cr. Week 2: ₹ 21.54 cr. Week 3: ₹ 11.75 cr. Total: ₹ 86.99 cr. India biz. HIT.”

Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy also performed well and collected Rs 139 crore. Sharing the film’s box office collections, Taran tweeted, “GullyBoy⁠ ⁠biz at a glance...Week 1: ₹ 100.30 cr [Thu release - 8 days]. Week 2: ₹ 26.80 cr. Week 3: ₹ 8.69 cr. Week 4: ₹ 2.42 cr. Week 5: ₹ 1.17 cr. Total: ₹ 139.38 cr. India biz. HIT.”

Also read: Kesari movie review: This Battle of Saragarhi film pins all its hopes on Akshay Kumar

Uri also continues to hold fort and is in the 10th week of its release. Calling it an all time blockbuster, Taran shared the weekly collections of the film on Twitter.

“Uri biz at a glance... Week 1: ₹ 71.26 cr Week 2: ₹ 62.77 cr Week 3: ₹ 37.02 cr Week 4: ₹ 29.34 cr Week 5: ₹ 18.74 cr Week 6: ₹ 11.56 cr Week 7: ₹ 6.67 cr Week 8: ₹ 3.83 cr Week 9: ₹ 1.63 cr Week 10: 95 lakhs. Total: ₹ 243.77 cr. India biz. ALL TIME BLOCKBUSTER,” he tweeted.

Indra Kumar’s comedy Total Dhamaal crossed Rs 150 crore mark at the box office. Taran shared the collections of the film on Twitter, “TotalDhamaal biz at a glance...Week 1: ₹ 94.55 cr Week 2: ₹ 38.05 cr Week 3: ₹ 13.11 cr Weekend 4: ₹ 5.05 cr Total: ₹ 150.76 cr India biz. HIT.”

Earlier, Kangana’s sister Rangoli had shared the collections of Manikarnika along with its budget and other details. She had tweeted, “Manikarnika investments and returns. Budget- 79cr Print+Marketing- 22cr Digital rights sold- 40cr Satellite rights sold- 20cr Distribution rights- 61cr India business - 100.05cr still counting Worldwide - 152cr and still counting... @KairosKontent.”

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