The first half of 2024 is about to get over and Bollywood Hungama, in this special report, looks at the performance of box office films in this period. In the domestic market, Ajay Devgn’s Shaitaan comes on the second position. But in Overseas, the crime comedy Crew took the slot followed by Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya. Shaitaan, meanwhile, comes on the number 4 position. Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, meanwhile, is the top Bollywood grosser so far not just in India but also Overseas.
The top 5 Bollywood movies at the overseas box office for the Year 2024 are as follows
1. Fighter – 12 mil. USD
2. Crew – 6 mil. USD
3. Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya – 4.5 mil. USD
4. Shaitaan – 4 mil. USD
5. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan – 3.8 mil. USD
There was a difference of just Rs. 6.88 crores between the collections of the Eid release – Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Maidaan – India. But Overseas, Maidaan fared quite badly and didn’t even touch 1 mil. USD. Kartik Aaryan’s Chandu Champion, too, has been poor though it crossed 1 mil. USD mark. The other big shock is Munjya, which is all set to enter the Rs. 100 crore club in domestic territories. But in foreign markets, it has earned just 0.5 mil. USD.
We spoke to trade veteran Taran Adarsh and distributors to understand this scenario better. Talking of Fighter’s huge performance, Taran Adarsh said, “Hrithik Roshan is huge Overseas and the film also had Deepika Padukone. But I wonder why Hrithik does fewer films. His next film, War 2, will definitely take an electrifying opening.” He suggested, “If Hrithik does a film with Rohit Shetty or one of the Telugu directors like Atlee, then the sky is the limit. He is a great actor and blessed with superb looks. Also, his stardom and aura are something else.”
When asked why Maidaan fared so poorly, he replied, “During Eid or Diwali, people want to go out and celebrate and want to watch a good entertainer. Maidaan came in the wrong period. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, which was released on the same day as Maidaan, had the potential to strike gold. Sadly, it didn’t get any benefit of the holidays.”
Taran said that he was dejected by the overseas numbers of Chandu Champion, “When I checked the collections, I was shocked. For a second, I thought that the numbers were not updated!”
About Munjya, he said, “A horror comedy like Stree 2 can be assured of a good start as it’s a brand and has a recall value. But Munjya has relative newcomers and there’s a CGI-generated creature. This has its limitations. That could be one of the reasons (why it didn’t work at all in foreign markets). But then overseas box office behaviour is often unpredictable, even for Hollywood films.”
Crew’s dominance in the second position is also explained by the trade veteran, “Besides the three actresses in the film (Kareena Kapoor Khan, Tabu and Kriti Sanon), it starred Diljit Dosanjh, who has a huge pull overseas. Also, Crew was well packaged – three great looking ladies, hit music and lots of humour. It also has a funny take on the airline industry.”
Pratik Mehta, whose company Fun Asia Network distributes most of the Hindi films in 70+ countries spoke on Crew and agreed that the casting played a big role. He also stated, “The content of the movie was very good. We also did its digital and social marketing and it was planned in advance. As a result, we got a great result.”
Sanjay Chatar, who with his son Aditya Chatar distributed Crew as well as Shahid Kapoor-Kriti Sanon starrer Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, opened up, “It was a very encouraging performance for us that Crew and Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, which were not considered big films, have done exceptionally well. But we always believed in their potential. When we saw their trailers and songs, we knew that it had a chance. Accordingly, we gave both of them wide releases in a maximum number of countries, to exploit better. And that’s how the result came.”
Explaining why these two films triumphed over other films of the year, Sanjay Chatar answered, “This was due to three factors. Firstly, the genre was audience-friendly in these films. Secondly, the star cast was enticing, be it Shahid and Kriti in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya or Tabu, Kareena and Kriti in Crew. Thirdly, the music was super-hit for both the films.”
Explained: Overseas box office performance
Taran Adarsh emphasized, “The overseas market behaves very differently from India. Also, each foreign market is different from the other. An Australia-New Zealand will perform differently from a USA or a UK. The UK used to be a great market at one point in time but now, it has gone down. The USA, meanwhile, has grown by leaps and bounds. Canada, too, is an important market for Indian films, especially those with Punjabi flavour. Ditto for Australia – anything good works there but if you have a Punjabi tadka, then nothing like it. New Zealand and Fiji, on the other hand, work differently. Masala films work there big time.”
Taran added, “But Shah Rukh Khan films are in a different league in all these territories. No one comes close. Ranbir Kapoor, however, comes second. These are the two real superstars whose films excel not just in India but also overseas. Salman Khan is also bouncing back in a very big way. Salman has realized that you can’t be working with the same director or set of actors. He’s coming out of his comfort zone and is taking the right steps.”
More Pages: Chandu Champion Box Office Collection , Chandu Champion Movie Review
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