Karan Johar-produced remake of the 1990 original, Agneepath, which grossed R24.50 crore on its opening day, is poised to rake in R75-80 crore in the four-day opening weekend, film industry analysts say.
The film, starring Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt in prominent roles, beat Salman Khan?s Bodyguard to notch up the biggest opening in the history of Bollywood. Bodyguard, which released on Eid last year, had grossed R21.5 cr on the opening day, while Agneepath which hit the theatres on Republic Day, has scored better. The film witnessed 90-95% occupancy levels at the theatres and netted R23 crore. Bodyguard had netted R85 cr in the five-day Eid weekend last year, while Ra.One grossed R95 crore in the first five days.
?Agneepath?s Saturday and Sunday collections, like Thursday, should be humungous,? says film trade analyst Taran Adarsh. ?I expect R20 crore-plus on each day.? Friday collections had dropped slightly and are estimated to have been around R15-18 crore. ?Going by current trends, Agneepath should be a monstrous hit, in view of its economics,? adds Adarsh. With no major releases this week, the film with a production budget of R 75 crore, enjoys a clear run at the multiplexes and is likely to recover its costs in the first week itself.
The producer has already recovered a majority of his investment by pre-selling the film?s satellite rights to Zee Entertainment for R 41 crore, audio rights to Sony Music for R9 crore, and overseas and home video rights for R12 crore. Trade experts reckon, with Agneepath, Hrithik shall enter the coveted R 100 crore club, after Aamir Khan, Salman, Shah Rukh and Ajay Devgn, whose films 3 Idiots, Dabangg, Ready, Bodyguard, Ra.One, Don 2 and Singham, went on to gross in excess of R 100 crores at the box office.
?With such collections on the first day itself, it?s a foregone conclusion that Agneepath will make loads of money in the days to come,? says Komal Nahta, film trade analyst and editor of Film Information. ?The film may well be the fastest R100 crore grosser.? Right now, this record is held by Bodyguard, which crossed the R100 crore mark within eight days of its release.
Agneepath?s overseas collections have been excellent too, with shows in Australia grossing A$ 75,328 on Thursday and A$ 51,400 on Friday. In New Zealand, the film collected NZ$ 12,079 on Friday.