The weekend has been special considering that two films released to encouraging response at the box office. Neeraj Pandey's Special 26 received good reviews and equally good collections while Remo D'souza's film Anybody Can Dance (ABCD) has also been appreciated by the cinegoers.
While Special 26 started on a slow note contrary to expectations, the weekend collections of the film are Rs 22.74 crore. The film collected Rs 5.63 crore on Friday, Rs 7.03 crore on Saturday and Rs 10.08 crore on Sunday showing a steady rise.
ABCD meanwhile has collected Rs 14.91 (Friday - Rs 4.48, Saturday - Rs 4.80 and Sunday - Rs 5.63 crore) crore in its opening weekend. On the other hand, the first week collections of Vishwaroop and David were Rs 10.97 crore and Rs 3.30 crore respectively. The second weekend collections of both the films were unavailable.
Trade analyst Atul Mohan said, `It is a rare phenomenon in Bollywood when two films released on the same day receive positive responses and good word-of-mouth publicity. Both the films have been liked by audiences and seem to be doing well at the box office.
They managed to sustain on Monday too. So let's hope that the same performance continues. Special 26 is a special film and with a star like Akshay Kumar in it there are good times for the industry. Similarly, ABCD has been lapped up by the youth and it shows that given a film for the youngsters, one can't fail.`
On the other hand, Girish Wankhede, official spokesperson of a multiplex chain said, `Both the films have done excellent business and have their respective audiences. While surprisingly ABCD opened better than Special 26 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Special 26 inched ahead. I can see good weak ahead and even a good second weekend.`
Trade analyst Amod Mehra said, `ABCD is now the official surprise hit of the year. In fact it surprised everyone when it opened better than Special 26. Meanwhile Special 26 is seeing steady growth in collections through word of mouth.`