TOXIC CRASHES AND HOW; HANUMAN ANSH SCORES AND HOW!
The last week has been very dramatic for the industry and those following the box office. Toxic, which released with loads of expectations, has emerged as a huge debacle. Meanwhile, Hanuman Ansh has become an out-of-syllabus blockbuster that no one saw coming.
Toxic’s Hindi version opened at Rs. 53.50 crores. Hence, it broke the record of the Hindi version of KGF – Chapter 2’s Hindi version, which was Rs. 52.50 crores. But the word of mouth was very poor and its effect was visible on the second day. On Thursday, August 27, the film collected just Rs. 22 crores. The collections were expected to grow on Friday, Raksha Bandhan. Instead, the film further fell and earned Rs. 18.50 crores. The Saturday and Sunday collections were Rs. 14.75 crores and Rs. 14 crores respectively.
On Monday, Toxic’s Hindi version crashed as it collected Rs. 4.25 crores. It got a limited advantage of the discounted Tuesday offer, when it collected Rs. 4.50 crores. Until Tuesday, the film has collected Rs. 131.50 crores and its extended first week earnings should be around Rs. 137 crores.
Toxic faces competition not just from Hanuman Ansh, but also from Mirzapur The Movie, which arrives tomorrow, and which has strong advances. Hence, it’ll struggle to collect even cross the Rs. 150 crore mark.
As for Hanuman Ansh, it released on August 7 and collected a mere Rs. 90 lakhs in its first week. The earnings dropped to Rs. 47 lakhs in Week 2. However, it began to miraculously jump from its third Friday. The week 3 collections were a solid Rs. 10.13 crores.
Then, there was no looking back. It earned Rs. 6.25 crores on its fourth Friday, that is, on August 28. The collections jumped to Rs. 9.25 crores on Saturday and Rs. 12 crores on Sunday. The film was rock-steady on Monday with collections of Rs. 5 crores. On Tuesday, the discounted ticket effect was significant, as it accumulated Rs. 8 crores. On Wednesday, films see a sharp drop as so many viewers ended up watching films on Tuesday to take advantage of the cheap tickets. But Hanuman Ansh did the unthinkable. It collected Rs. 7 crores, which was more than its Monday earnings.
The fourth week collections are expected to be around Rs. 52-53 crores. For a film that collected just Rs. 1.37 crore in the first two weeks, this is historic. The total collections will be around Rs. 64.50 crores at the end of this week.
It now remains to be seen where Hanuman Ansh goes from here. The coming weekend will also be strong. At the same time, it’ll face competition from Mirzapur The Movie. Though it belongs to a different genre, it’ll take away shows and that can impact the devotional film’s run to some extent.