With Yash Raj Films? New York doing ?decent business? into its second week and Eros International?s Kambakkht Ishq grossing Rs 46 crore in the opening weekend worldwide, the smiles are back in Bollywood.

?Despite gloomy reviews, New York, which grossed Rs 35 crore worldwide in the opening weekend, is a hit, especially in the metros, but Kambakkht Ishq hasn?t pulled viewers beyond the weekend on an average,? said an insider. While New York released with 900 prints, KI launched 2,000 prints to take in a huge opening. The gamble seems to have paid off.

?New York has proved to be the biggest box office hit of the year so far and it has been followed by Kambakkht Ishq (KI). In the past month, average occupancy in multiplexes for the weekends have been around 80-85%, the highest since January,? said Tushar Dhingra, COO, BIG Cinemas.

Sunil Lulla, executive director and president, Eros International said he was expecting KI to gross Rs 100 crore worldwide. ?It?s a no-brainer entertainer which has worked with the youth and the masses,? he said.

But though KI got great numbers over the weekend? Rs 32 crore in India?on Monday and Tuesday, it had already dipped to 20% at most plexes in Mumbai. But it was doing reasonably well in cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata and very well in places like Delhi, Punjab, UP and Rajasthan.

?The response to KI has been overwhelming with above 95% occupancy across all our 27 properties in the country. Some of our units like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur and Pune recorded 100% occupancy breaking earlier records of the highest ever single-day footfall on Sunday,? said Alok Tandon, CEO, INOX Leisure. ?Because of the strike, people are starved of a typical masala film and that?s why KI has done well,? said Sunali Shroff of Fame Cinemas.

Under the new agreement between producers/distributors and multiplex-owners, the screening rights of a film lies with theexhibitor, so KI shows have been reduced at plexes where it hasn?t had enough footfalls.

With KI and New York, there are signs of revival. Ticketing company Kyazoonga, which tied up with KI, is seeing a rise in demand. Said Neetu Bhatia, co-founder, chairman and CEO, Kyazoonga, ?80% of tickets sale comes from movies, whereas the remaining 20% comes from sports. Post strike, the pipeline of movie content looks good and we hope this will translate into solid ticket sales.?