MUMBAI: No July in Bollywood's box-office history has raked in as much profits as this month has. Peg it to the youthful appeal ofDelhi Belly andZindagi Na Mile Dobara or the bloody rage ofMurder 2 and Singham, but July 2011 brought business worth Rs 210 crore.
Suniel Wadhwa, independent distributor and box office analyst says, "After the box office hit record levels in June with Ready, Double Dhamaal, the good times continued to roll in July. At Rs 210 crore net box office collections, it was the highest-grossing July ever seen in the history of Bollywood, jumping over by 80% from July 2010." and recording an increase of 105% compared to an average six-monthly January-June 2011 monthly box office.
While Salman Khan's Ready contributed to about 40% of the box office collection in the first half of 2011, the collection of July is about 26% of the total of the first half of 2011. The adult certification to films didn't stop audiences from going to cinema halls for Aamir Khan's Delhi Belly and Mohit Suri's Murder 2. Buddhah Hoga Tera Baap was a treat for Amitabh Bachchan fans.
Both producers and exhibitors were worried about the performances of two films-Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara andHarry Potter which released after the 13/7 terror attack. The audiences surprised them all with Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara breaking the previous week release Murder 2's first weekend record and Harry Potter with nearly 80% opening on the first day.
Says Trade analyst Taran Adarsh, "Every film that released in July has broken the previous releases' weekend opening record, from Ready to Singham. This month has broken the myth about audience spending in the first half of the month but this month has been just the opposite. The weekend collection of this month has been nothing less than Rs 120 crore for all the six films and biggest surprise has been the weekday collection at times has beaten the weekend business which one considered to be the time of business of cinema.''
Prices of film tickets have gone up by at least 15% in the last one year but that did not stop the audiences from walking into cinema halls. both multiplexes and single screen cinemas
Theatres all over the country achieved their target even before the month ended. Vishal Anand, head of operations, Fun Cinemas, said, "Most multiplexes achieved their target in the first three weeks of the month and the business that came from the films in the last part was only surplus.
The tone for July was set on the first day of the month itself with Delhi Belly making the cash tills ring. It has been the highest month for cinema sales ever for us at Fun cinemas. The trend continued with Transformers, Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap and then the biggies like ZNMD and Harry Potter," he said. It just blew everyones sales imagination with a good support by Delhi Belly in the 3rd week also.Singham supported the cinemas too. We expected sales to be stronger than June but this has surpassed our expectations. July has been more than 40 per cent than June, which had the highest sales record only to be broken after four weeks only.''
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