Made on a production budget of 8 crores, the film released on May 15, with 4 star reviews. Fantastic audience reactions and strong word-of-mouth helped to sustain collections right through the third week of its release.
Commenting on the films performance producers Anupam Mittal & Aditya Shastri say, "The film has exceeded our expectations and we're pleased with the results. The film is in its fourth week and still going very strong.'
Despite over 5 films opening this weekend, 99 is still the box office champ this week too, giving it a record for being the number 1 film at the Indian box-office 4 weeks in a row!! Playing in 225 screens in week 4, the film has had a startlingly low drop week on week, and has surprised even the filmmakers.
The film grossed 7.6 crores from 430 screens, 5.3 crores from 358 screens and 4.2 crores from 252 screens worldwide in its first three weeks respectively. The Net Box Office was 5.4 crores for Week 1, 3.8 crores for Week 2, and 2.98 crores for Week 3, bringing the total Net Box Office for 3 weeks to 12.17 crores.
99 is a story inspired by real events in 1999 and 2000. It is as much "what could have been" as it is "what really happened." In other words, it is historical fiction. It spans a few genres, it is slick, fast-paced, realistic and, importantly, very funny.
The movie is an unpredictable and hilarious ride spread over two cities with colourful characters, unbelievable circumstances, small-time crooks, big-time conspiracies, fateful car crashes, loads of coffee, a briefcase full of money, a budding romance...
...and a historical controversy brewing in the background!