Kaabil, Raees Day 1 Box Office Collection Update

Back in the year 2000, when Mohabbatein and Mission Kashmir released on the same day at the box office, the Hrithik Roshan starrer managed to trounce the Shah Rukh Khan – Aditya Chopra film by a margin of more than 45% on the opening day at the box office.

Nearly 17 years later, the exact opposite has happened. SRK’s Raees has taken an excellent opening, recording 60-70% occupancy for the morning shows – with several multiplexes running close to full capacity as early as 9AM in the morning.

Kaabil hasn’t been able to match up to the onslaught from Raees, and apart from the incredible star power of SRK, the promos of Kaabil simply weren’t exciting enough for the audience to line-up at theatres to watch the film.

The Kaabil opening was as low as 10-15% for the early morning at multiplexes, with some circuits performing better at around 25%. Business has picked up noon onwards, but the gap is still pretty huge all across the country.

Early trends suggests Kaabil could fall short of the 10 crore mark (Hindi version only), while Raees should cross the 20 crore if it sustains throughout the day (based on theatre samples until 3PM).

The other factor that could severely hurt Kaabil and restrict its growth potential is the release that it’s been given. At multiplexes, shows haven’t been divided equally, as Raees has taken 60-65% of shows, while Kaabil is left with just 35-40%. That’s a big difference between shows when compared to the other clashes – Rustom and Mohenjo Daro, Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale, ADHM and Shivaay – all of which were more equally divided.

Also, the higher capacity screens (bigger auditoriums with higher seating capacity) have all gone to Raees.

At this point in time, with the occupancy nowhere close to the 100% mark at any centre, it isn’t making a big difference, but since the reports are positive – it’ll begin to severely affect the business of Kaabil if the film manages to show big growth over the weekend.

Industry insiders who are critical of the show division say, Anil Thadani (distributor) used ‘Baahubali 2’ to ensure a bigger release for Raees. While those who support the move (exhibitors, mostly) say the pre-release buzz was hugely in favour of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer, which is why the film deserved a bigger release and showcasing.

The crucial factor could well be the word-of-mouth and trend on Thursday (holiday). If Kaabil shows bigger growth than Raees, it could get more shows Friday onwards, but if the growth isn’t big enough, it’ll be advantage Raees during the all-important Saturday – Sunday period.