17
This Independence day, one saw the clash of three movies at once – ‘Stree 2‘, ‘Vedaa‘ and ‘Khel Khel Mein‘. All these three films got good reviews from the critics, however, Shraddha Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi starrer ‘Stree 2’ ate the cake with maximum footfalls, numbers and turned out to be the highest grossing film of the year so far.It has crossed Rs 200 crore in the span of 4 days. However, the industry feels sad because Akshay Kumar‘s ‘Khel Khel Mein’ could not get those numbers despite being such a multi-starrer and actually getting rave reviews. Infact, the same goes for ‘Vedaa’. ETimes discusses with some trade experts discuss if the films could have fared if they had avoided clash.
Taran Adarsh reacts and says, “‘Khel Khel Mein’ is a decent film, I’m not denying it. It could have done marginally better in multiplexes if it did not come together. The target audience which is the multiplexes, it could have fared better if it avoided the clash. Having said that, There was no interest to watch both the films – ‘Khel Khel Mein’ and ‘Vedaa’. All roads led to only one film which is ‘Stree 2’. However, in general the numbers could have been better. But too late to discuss it. Let’s not even get into that.”
Film Exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi echoes a similar sentiment as he adds, “Khel Khel Mein is a multiplex film and ‘Stree 2’ is more a mass-oriented film. So, every film has its own set of audience which does not encroach into each other’s business. But having said that three films releasing together was a bit too much. Especially because the August 23 and August 30, you have no movies coming in. So, they would have rather released it on that date and been the movie of the week. It would have gotten more screens also and that would have helped in getting it a better opening.”
For those not in the know, ‘Stree 2’ has released in about 3500 to 4000 screens while ‘Khel Khel Mein’ has got only 900 to 1000 screens. Film producer and trade expert Girish Johar added, “In hindsight, it’s very easy to say. If the release strategy was planned properly, things could have been slightly different. Infact, ‘Vedaa’ is also getting a good response. Both of them are suffocated because of the ‘Stree 2’ juggernaut. If they had released separetly, especially because there are no big releases in the coming weeks. So as a fraternity, for the exhibition community also could have squeezed more out of that. Considering the fact that even if the films had done average, they would have still collected much more than what it’s collecting right now. Technically, it’s not a loss for the producers but the loss for the exhibitor’s community also because they have more potential which could not be squeezed completely.”
Rathi further elaborated and said, “There’s a huge difference in the number of screens and that’s not on the exhibitor or distributor’s call. It’s purely on the basis of the law of demand and supply. The film which is selling more tickets will obviously have more shows. Having said that, even the shows which ‘Vedaa’ and ‘Khel Khel Mein’ had, were also not running on 100 percent occupancy. That’s the way things are. Though, ‘Khel Khel Mein’ would have anyway not catered to the two-tier, three-tier cities, it could have been better if the number of screens would have increased and that would have further increased the numbers.”
Taran Adarsh reacts and says, “‘Khel Khel Mein’ is a decent film, I’m not denying it. It could have done marginally better in multiplexes if it did not come together. The target audience which is the multiplexes, it could have fared better if it avoided the clash. Having said that, There was no interest to watch both the films – ‘Khel Khel Mein’ and ‘Vedaa’. All roads led to only one film which is ‘Stree 2’. However, in general the numbers could have been better. But too late to discuss it. Let’s not even get into that.”
Film Exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi echoes a similar sentiment as he adds, “Khel Khel Mein is a multiplex film and ‘Stree 2’ is more a mass-oriented film. So, every film has its own set of audience which does not encroach into each other’s business. But having said that three films releasing together was a bit too much. Especially because the August 23 and August 30, you have no movies coming in. So, they would have rather released it on that date and been the movie of the week. It would have gotten more screens also and that would have helped in getting it a better opening.”
For those not in the know, ‘Stree 2’ has released in about 3500 to 4000 screens while ‘Khel Khel Mein’ has got only 900 to 1000 screens. Film producer and trade expert Girish Johar added, “In hindsight, it’s very easy to say. If the release strategy was planned properly, things could have been slightly different. Infact, ‘Vedaa’ is also getting a good response. Both of them are suffocated because of the ‘Stree 2’ juggernaut. If they had released separetly, especially because there are no big releases in the coming weeks. So as a fraternity, for the exhibition community also could have squeezed more out of that. Considering the fact that even if the films had done average, they would have still collected much more than what it’s collecting right now. Technically, it’s not a loss for the producers but the loss for the exhibitor’s community also because they have more potential which could not be squeezed completely.”
Rathi further elaborated and said, “There’s a huge difference in the number of screens and that’s not on the exhibitor or distributor’s call. It’s purely on the basis of the law of demand and supply. The film which is selling more tickets will obviously have more shows. Having said that, even the shows which ‘Vedaa’ and ‘Khel Khel Mein’ had, were also not running on 100 percent occupancy. That’s the way things are. Though, ‘Khel Khel Mein’ would have anyway not catered to the two-tier, three-tier cities, it could have been better if the number of screens would have increased and that would have further increased the numbers.”
