May 2015 has turned out to be a money spinner for Bollywood. Three of the eight hits of the year so far were released this month. Yes, we are referring to "Gabbar Is Back", "Piku" and "Tanu Weds Manu Returns".
Bollywood saw the release of over 65 movies in the first four months this year. Five of them proved to be big hits at the box office, while 10 were able to earn a modest profit, after recovering production costs.
Over 50 flicks bombed at the box office due to ICC World Cup and IPL matches, according to the makers of the films. Also, no movie could earn ₹100 crore in the domestic market.
The tide has changed for good, with a string of Bollywood movies tasting success at the box office in May, bringing smiles to the faces of producers.
The month has seen the release of 13 Bollywood films till now, including five dubbed ones. Seven more movie are slated to hit theatres in the last weekend of the month.
Here is a week-wise analysis of Bollywood movies released in May and their performance at the box office.
Akshay Kumar's "Gabbar Is Back" was released in theatres along with "Sabki Bajegi Band" on 1 May.
Trade experts had predicted "Gabbar Is Back" to be the first big hit film of the year. Proving them right, the movie opened to a superb response and did good collection at ticket counters in the first week. "Sabki Bajegi Band" failed.
But the Akshay starrer faced headwinds from new releases in the following weeks. Yet, "Gabbar Is Back" collected ₹84 crore in the domestic market and over ₹16 crore at the overseas box office in 24 days, taking its worldwide box office collections to ₹100 crore.
The film continues to do well in some cinema halls across the globe.
The second week saw the release of "Piku", "Kuch Kuch Locha Hai" and "Makad Jaala".
"Piku" has turned out to be a money spinner at ticket counters, collecting ₹71.72 crore in the domestic market and ₹34.08 crore at the international box office in 17 days, thus earning about ₹105.8 crore in worldwide box office collections. The movie continues to rock.
"Kuch Kuch Locha Hai" was a much-hyped film and expected to do well at ticket counters. Having failed to impress viewers, the film could not collect even ₹10 crore worldwide. "Makad Jaala" also turned out to be a big disaster.
In the third week, Ranbir Kapoor's highly-talked about film "Bombay Velvet" was released, along with the Hindi and English versions of "Mad Max: Fury Road".
Made on a budget of ₹105 crore, "Bombay Velvet" failed to impress viewers and could not earn even half of it production cost. The Hollywood movie also failed in its box office expectations.
The fourth week saw the release of "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" along with "Main Hoon (Part-Time) Killer", "Tomorrowland", "Surkhaab", "Big Game" and "Extraordinaari".
Beating all of them, the sequel to "Tanu Weds Manu" got a fantastic opening in India as well as abroad. The movie has collected ₹55.25 crore nett at box offices in India in five days. It has collected ₹17 crore in the international market.
The present trend shows that it is set to be the first Bollywood film to surpass the ₹100-crore mark in domestic box office collections in India. The movie's success run continues worldwide, even as other new releases have bombed at the box office.
Bollywood is set to see seven releases, "Welcome 2 Karachi", "I Love Desi", "Ishqedarriyaan", "Lateef", "Madmast Barkhaa", "P Se PM Tak" and "San Andreas" in the last week of May.
Among them, "Welcome 2 Karachi" starring Arshad Warsi and Jackky Bhagnani is a big ticket film, being promoted in a big way. If it impresses the audience, it will be the fourth big hit of the month.
