In a huge setback for superstar Salman Khan as far as Sultan box office collections are concerned, Eid day has been shifted from July 6 to July 7 – Sultan release date is the former and first day take was expected to be the biggest chunk that powers the movie past the Rs 100 cr mark. Since this would have been a holiday, people in huge numbers were expeted to throng the theatres thereby giving a big boost to the movie at the B.O. Now, there is nothing but huge uncertainty.
Sultan opening day collection was seen at anything between Rs 30 cr to Rs 40+ cr, but now the industry is woefully saying it expects that to halve, if not plunge by a greater amount.
Salman Khan will now be counting on the fact that Sultan release date advance bookings were so high that people who had bought the tickets would most certainly attend the first shows.
Manoj Desai, Executive Director of Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir Cinema said, “The opening of ‘Salman Khan usually collects the maximum amounts on first three days… Sultan earnings will get impacted.”
Distributor Rajesh Thadani told IANS that, “We were expecting close to Rs 40 crore on its opening day but now I feel the opening would come down to Rs 30 crore. I think ‘Sultan’ won’t get a record breaking opening which we were hoping for the film. The advance booking has been tremendous though.”
Distributor Sanjay Ghai from Delhi said: “Yes, the opening will get affected slightly but, they should have released the film on Friday itself and since its Salman Khan’s film they would have made a great collection any which way. Releasing it on Wednesday was not a great idea.”
Be that as it may, the now that the die has been cast, there is no oing back and Salman Khan will have to bear teh brunt of this decision. Surely, he knew that the uncertainty was there and Bhai, being the aggressive man he is, went for the maximum.
