Heavy-duty promotions by Salman Khan notwithstanding, the box office collections of his production venture Hero has been just about decent. The remake of the 1983 classic, which features star kids Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty and has most panned by critics, did a business of Rs 21.20 crore in its opening weekend.
According to sources, most shows witnessed an occupancy rate of 35-40 per cent. The day one collections were Rs 6.85 crore, which dropped marginally on Saturday and picked up slightly on Sunday. Trade expert Amod Mehra says with one of the biggest stars of the country producing the modern version of Hero, expectations ran high and were met to a certain extent on the day of release. `The collections remained more or less steady on day two and by Sunday, it rose to a satisfactory level. The film has received mixed reactions and maintaining the numbers might be an uphill task. But, the digital and satellite rights sale will make up for it,` he explains.
Trade pundits like Taran Adarsh, however, call the film's BO performance `good` considering that it has new faces as the lead cast. `The business didn't witness growth on Saturday, but stabilised on Sunday. On the whole, the weekend has been quite good. Hero is giving tough competition to Welcome Back, but in the overseas market, the latter is doing better,` says Adarsh.
By the end of its second weekend, the multi-starrer comedy has reached the Rs 85-crore mark.
BO stats
Rs 21.20crore
Hero (opening weekend)
Rs 34.77crore
Welcome Back (week two; overall: Rs 85.77 crore)
