This was one ‘race’ that film buffs were looking forward to since months. As soon as it was known that SRK’s Raees and Hritik Roshan’s Kaabil were going to release on same day, bets were on about who would do better on opening ‘weekend’ – which was a misnomer, since both films were ultimately released on 25th, a Wednesday, right in the middle of the week.
Well, the results are out!
Raees has raced far ahead of Kaabil on Day one – doing precisely twice the business.
After a long promotional campaign, Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees hit the box office running. The film earned a promising Rs 20.42 crore on day one at the ticket windows. The numbers are especially important as Wednesday was a working day. The box office collection are expected to be huge on Republic Day, which is a holiday.
Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh shared the Raees collections on Twitter and wrote, “#Raees has a FANTASTIC Day 1… Wed ₹ 20.42 cr… Today [Thu; Republic Day] will witness HUMONGOUS biz again.”
Rahul Dholakia’s film Raees, starring Shah Rukh Khan as a bootlegger, started its box office run at a sprint. With around 80% occupancy being reported in cinemas on Wednesday, Raees has managed a blockbuster opening. Even internationally, the film is doing well.
Hritik Roshan’s Kaabil, has been one of his most anticipated projects in recent times; how did that fare on day one?
The opening day collection of the film is out, and it has managed to collect Rs 10.43 crore on its day one of release.
Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh shared the opening day collection of this Hrithik-Yami Gautam-starrer. “#Kaabil Wed ₹ 10.43 cr… Biz should escalate today [Thu; Republic Day],” he tweeted.
Yet the fact is that neither figures are the best ones for both actors.
SRK’s highest opener till date remains Happy New New, with Rs 44.97 crores. And for Hrithik, it is his action film Bang Bang with Rs 27.54 crores.
The Roshans are predictably angry, saying that Kaabil suffered since it did not get the number of theatres it wanted, due to Raees obviously!
“I will stop making films if this continues” Rakesh Roshan is said to have threatened.
In Nagpur Raees has released in Smruti, Sudama, Janaki, Panchsheel, Kamal and Rajvilas apart from the 5 multiplex.
Kaabil has released in Liberty, Alankar and Jaishree apart from multiplex.
But even in the 5 multiplex of Nagpur, viz Inox, Poonam mall, Inox Jaswant Tuli, Cinemax , PVR and Big Sangam, Raees is running more shows than Kaabil.
