Box Office Collection: Why did 'Happy New Year' Fail to Beat 'Chennai Express' Record?

Shah Rukh Khan's "Happy New Year" debuted with a record breaking opening at the Indian box office, but has failed to beat the life-time collection record of his previous release "Chennai Express" due to two big reasons.

Directed by Rohit Shetty, "Chennai Express" happens to be the highest grosser in SRK's career. Released in 3,550 screens in the domestic market on 8 August 2013, the movie has collected ₹ 227.65 crore nett at the Indian box office in its life time. It has become the third all time highest grossing Bollywood movie after "Dhoom 3" and "Krrish 3".

"Happy New Year", which released in 5,000 cinema halls in the domestic market, was expected to smash all the records of "Chennai Express". As predicted, the movie debuted with robust response and maintained rock-steady pace on the following days. Having collected ₹157.57 crore in seven days, the movie shattered all the first week records of SRK's 2013 release, which had raked in ₹156.70 crore nett.

Considering its huge screen count, its collection in the first week was not a big number as that of "Happy New Year". When compared to "Chennai Express", its business was on a falling spree after its opening day. It clearly indicated that a mixed word of mouth had taken a toll on its collection. Otherwise, the film could have raked in another ₹15 to 20 crore nett in its opening week.

Despite clashing with Akshay Kumar's "Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai Dobara", "Chennai Express" had collected ₹ 44.1 crores nett in the second week. "Happy New Year" had small competitors such as "Fireflies", "Roar", "Super Nani", "Mumbai Can Dance Saala", but the movie lost out huge amount of theatres in its second week. It collected ₹35.87 crore nett, taking its 14-day domestic total to ₹193.44 crore.

In its third week, "Chennai Express" clashed with another big ticket film –John Abraham's "Madras Cafe" -- and collected ₹18.16 crore nett in the domestic market. "Happy New Year" once again gave away large number of screens to small-budget films such as "Rang Rasiya", "The Shaukeens" and "A Decent Arrangement" and it struggled to collect ₹6 crore in the domestic market in its third week.

Despite clashing with big-ticket releases such as "Satyagraha", "Shuddh Desi Romance", "Zanjeer" and "Grand Masti" in the next few weeks, "Chennai Express" had collected ₹8.71 crore nett, taking its life-time domestic total to ₹227.65 crore nett. In its fourth and fifth week, "Happy New Year" juggled with "Kill Dil", "Happy Ending" and "Titoo MBA" and could not collect even ₹4 crore.

However, "Happy New Year" has collected approximately ₹204 crore nett at the Indian box office in 33 days. In its fifth week, the movie has been withdrawn from almost all the theatres and its collection has been completely halted. Considering its screen count on the opening day, its life-time collection could have easily ₹250 crore mark, but it was badly hit by word of mouth and continuously-reducing theatre count.