Mangal Pandey rising with big bucks
GURBIR SINGH
The Economic Times
MUMBAI: It has been long proved that there is little relationship between the
reviews a film
gets and its commercial success. Even if the film disappoints, producers can
still rake in a
neat profit provided they manage to pull in a large weekend audience.
Notwithstanding the indifferent reviews, and the feeling of let-down among the
first wave of
cinema-goers, Mangal Pandey The Rising did a net box office business of Rs 10
crore over the
long 4-day Independence weekend and was raking in profits from the second day
after its
release.
The Rs 33-crore production had collected Rs 21.5 crore before its release.
Distribution rights
on a minimum guarantee (MG) basis were sold to Yash Raj Films for Rs 13.5 crore
and the
telecast rights for Mangal Pandey were picked up by Sony Entertainment
Television (SET) for Rs
7 crore, Bobby Bedi of Kaleidoscope Productions and producer of the Aamir Khan
magnum opus told
ET in an exclusive interview.
At the ground level and in the industry, there is a feeling of let-down
surrounding Mangal
Pandey. Critics say the story drags, especially in the first half, while the
music has no zing.
In England, the film is under attack for its Brit-bashing and creative license.
Fame multiplex chain operator Shravan Shroff told ET, Mangal Pandey took a
tumble on Tuesday
after a house-full weekend. But the producers hardly care. In the current
economics of film
production, the money was already in before the critics got cracking! How does
it work?
Producers and distributors for some time now have perfected the art of building
up a film with
huge marketing and promotion budgets, and then raking in the moolah from the
first rush of
cinema-goers much before the world decides whether the movie is good or bad.
A 500-print, all-India release over a long weekend is the shock and awe
strategy all big film
producers have perfected. It started with films like K3G and Lagaan in 03.
Yash Chopra
continued the trend last Diwali by carpet-bombing cinema audiences with over
500 prints of Veer
Zaara.
Mangal Pandey, in this respect, has broken the record by going to town with 750
prints on 1,000
screens. Of these, 450 prints/600 screens are in India and 300 prints/400
screens have been
distributed in the US and the UK.
But what has been perfected more recently is juicing the market with a record
number of shows,
and milking the audience with super duper ticket prices ranging between Rs 150
and Rs 200 for
weekend releases.
While most multiplexes in the metros were running 12 shows a day of Mangal
Pandey, Inox Leisure
(that has part-financed the movie) initially ran as many as 16 shows a day in
its south Mumbai
multiplex!
We did 220 shows in Delhi and around 300 shows in Mumbai over the weekend,
said
Kaleidoscopes Bobby Bedi. In Mumbai, on Friday opening while Veer Zaara with
95per cent
occupancy collected Rs 32 lakh from the box-office, Mangal Pandey with 80per
cent collection
brought in Rs 57 lakh. This means the 4-day weekend gets translated into a
12-day run, Mr Bedi
added.
With multiple shows covering around 150 screens in the metros, the box office
collection would
touch Rs 10 crore in four days, Sunir Kheterpal, Yes Banks country head for
entertainment &
media banking, told ET.
The film has been released abroad by a Bobby Bedi-promoted distribution
company, Capital Films.
In the US, it has bucked the trend and done well turning in a 3-day weekend
earning around
$600,000. In the UK, the box-office returns have been more disappointing with a
weekend revenue
of £225,000.
The anti-Asian sentiment has given us less-than-expected returns, but overseas
earnings are
expected to touch $3m, Mr Bedi said.
©Bennett, Coleman and Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshowbnews/1202631.cms
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