Hindi
A tepid box office week
MUMBAI: The first Friday jinx seems to continue as three out of four new releases of the first Friday of 2013 had to be discontinued unceremoniously from many cinema halls.
Table No 21, thanks to Paresh Rawal in top billing, is the only one to survive as well as have some collection figures to show for itself. The film has managed to collect Rs 58 million during its first weekend. The collections in North have been badly affected due to severe cold conditions.
The three films withdrawn by the exhibitors are Rajdhani Express, Meri Shadi Karao and Dehraadun Diary for want of audience response.
Arbaaz Khan‘s sequel to Dabangg starring brother Salman Khan in the lead role of Chulbul Pandey, Dabangg 2 has just about exhausted its potential at the end of the second week as the collections showed a peak of Rs 80 million on Sunday and went down to Rs 20 million on Thursday, collecting Rs 315 million in all and taking its two-week total to Rs 1.31 billion.
Akshay Kumar and Asin‘s Khiladi 786 collected Rs 10.5 million in its fourth week. The movie‘s box-office net now stands at Rs 658 million.
Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerjee and Kareena Kapoor Khan starrer Talaash added Rs 7.5 million in its fifth week to take its total collections to Rs 945.6 million.
Four releases are lined up for Friday, 11 January. The exhibitors, especially multiplexes, expect Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola to bring the audiences back to cinemas after a couple of dull weeks. The release problems for Vishwaroopam with multiplexes still continue as of today because the producers have planned to release the film on the DTH platform first with which the multiplex owners are not in agreement. The other two releases are Gangoobai and Four Two Ka One.
Hindi
UFO Cine Media Network unveils ‘India’s biggest cinema moment ever’
Dhurandhar 2 and Toxic tipped to deliver rare pan-India scale for brands
MUMBAI: UFO Cine Media Network is pitching an upcoming dual-film release weekend as what it calls the largest advertising opportunity cinema has offered in India, banking on an estimated 100 million cumulative footfalls nationwide.
The initiative, branded “India’s Biggest Cinema Moment Ever”, is anchored around the simultaneous release of Dhurandhar 2 – The Revenge and Toxic, two high-profile action films expected to dominate screens across regions and languages. Trade projections, supported by cinema measurement tool Procat, suggest the combined lifetime theatrical run could deliver one of the widest audience concentrations seen in recent years.
Dhurandhar 2 – The Revenge, an India–Pakistan spy thriller, is set to release in five languages, broadening its appeal across northern and southern markets. The franchise has already built a sizable multilingual following through theatrical runs and streaming platforms. Toxic, fronted by pan-India star Yash, is expected to draw heavy footfalls across southern circuits and beyond, buoyed by the actor’s proven box-office pull.
UFO, which operates an in-cinema advertising network spanning more than 4,100 theatres, is positioning the release window as a rare moment of synchronised national attention. Its footprint covers multiplexes and single screens across over 1,500 towns and cities, allowing advertisers to deploy campaigns at scale during a single weekend.
Executives at the company argue that cinema’s value lies not just in reach but in attention. Unlike digital or television, audiences are captive, emotionally engaged and free from distraction, they say, translating into stronger recall and measurable returns for brands. With advertisers increasingly focused on performance-led media planning, UFO is framing the dual release as comparable in scale to India’s largest broadcast and sporting properties.
Industry observers note that as theatrical exhibition expands deeper into Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, such tentpole weekends are becoming anchor moments for annual media strategies. If Dhurandhar 2 – The Revenge and Toxic deliver as expected, the weekend could set new benchmarks not only for box office numbers, but also for cinema’s evolving role as a high-attention advertising medium.
