Box Office: ‘Murder 3’, ‘JKLS’ get off to disappointing start

This week’s big releases are perhaps at opposite ends of a spectrum. Whilst ‘Murder 3’ hails from a successful franchise, ‘Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story’ (JKLS) looks at an unconventional story about a gangster. BizAsia can confirm that both movies have failed to impress on the opening day.

Mahesh Bhatt’s previous movies in the franchise should have given the 3rd instalment, which stars Randeep Hooda and Aditi Rao Hydari, the push and anticipation within the audiences that it needed. This could be a more untruthful assumption as the movie is currently experiencing just a 30-35% occupancy, below average to what was expected. It is expected, however, that the film will gain momentum during the weekend despite getting mixed reviews.

Similarly, Vivek Oberoi and Neha Sharma starrer, ‘JKLS’ had a positive response from the unveiling of the first look. However, this doesn’t seem to have translated at the ticket windows as in the first half of the day, it achieved just 10-15% occupancy. Having received a poor response in reviews too, this one may just pick up tomorrow and Sunday but perhaps not a huge amount, as trade experts suggest.

On a more positive note, last week’s releases ‘Any Body Can Dance’ and ‘Special 26’ have remained steady in their own respective rights, proving that two films that release on the same day are able to hold their own. Although neither surpassed the 50 crores mark individually, collectively they have managed to achieve a respectable 75 crores at the domestic box office during their first week.