Happy New Year has taken the best opening for a film released in 2014. The occupancy for the morning shows was better than other big openers like Singham Returns, Kick and Bang Bang. Happy New Year was also about 10-15% better than the second best opening this year.
The average all-India occupancy was around 80%, which is fantastic considering the fact that some shows opened very early in the morning. Due to the length of the film, shows started a little earlier than usual at some centres.
Amongst all the big films released this year, the opening of Kick was on par with trade expectations, Bang Bang and Jai Ho were below-the-mark and films like Singham Returns and Ek Villain did better than expected. Happy New Year falls in the Kick category, as the expectations were already very high which the film has live up to.
After a bumper opening, films like Bang Bang and Kick dipped due to Pre-Eid and Navratri period, but the decision to release Happy New Year a day after Diwali holiday seems to have worked. The film has held strongly in the noon, with all-India occupancy crossing 85%. It could go higher later in the day as the reports from theatres is very positive.
Happy New Year should record the highest opening day collections and could cross the 40 cr mark for the first time ever. The Tamil and Telugu versions have also opened very well, which will only add to the domestic (India) collections.
Box Office Update till 4PM. Stay tuned to Indicine for more updates!