Shah Rukh Khan's sci-fi magnum opus RA.One promises to become bigger in the coming days. The opening day (October 26) of the movie was the second-highest ever for a Hindi film, grossing Rs. 26.5 crore with a net of Rs. 18.5 crore.
The second day (October 27) collections, were even more impressive with the film raking in a whooping Rs. 36 crore
gross with a net of Rs. 25.10 crore.
The total so far is whooping Rs. 62.50 crore in the first two days of its release.
Ra.One, released on Diwali – Rs. 150 crore budget, on 3100 screens in India, 500 being in 3D format and 1000 screens overseas – got thumbs up from critics for blending elegance of Hollywood with Indian sensibilities. But it is the massive marketing campaign adopted by promoters, which has been successful in delivering such a blockbuster film.
Though the movie is picking up significantly now, analysts are concerned about the returns that distributor Eros will rake in during the entire run of the movie.
But Eros is still hopeful. Kamal Jain, CFO, Eros International, said: "Generally what we do is we get most of our investments recovered before the release of the movie through pre licensing and cable and satellite rights as well as through marketing."
The key question that many film viewers or industry epxerts would be asking themselves is whether this hype sustain?
"The collections on the first day were a bit lower due to Lakshmi Pooja. We expect the occupancies to improve," said Rakesh Sharma, manager of Cinemax.
It was set to be a blockbuster Diwali for box office as they pinned their hopes on Shah Rukh's magnum opus to set their cash registers ringing. But now with this mixed response will the Diwali fireworks fizzle out for multiplexes? The jury is still out on that.
