‘Kick’ or ‘Happy New Year’ which film has a better release date?

Q: Which film according to you has a better release date this year Salman Khan’s KICK (Eid) or Shahrukh Khan’s Happy New Year (Diwali)? – Jaggi

A: KICK releases on Friday, 25th July 2014, which is a normal weekend. The pre-Eid period, when most muslims in the country stay away from theatres, could impact business in muslim-dominated areas. The holiday for Eid is likely to be on Wednesday, 30th July 2014. So a lot depends on the word-of-mouth that the film is carrying. If reports aren’t negative, Kick is likely to take full advantage of the two national holidays (Sunday and Wednesday) in its first week.

Eid is the holiday that has given the industry its ‘biggest grosser’ 3 out of 4 times - Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard(2011) and Ek Tha Tiger(2012). Even last year Chennai Express crossed 200 crores even after competing against a big film like Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara less than 7 days after its release. It’s a foregone conclusion that the Eid period has emerged to be the best release period for Bollywood.

As for Happy New Year, the makers couldn’t have asked for a better date. The final release date hasn’t been announced. There are reports that the Shahrukh Khan starrer will either release on 22nd or 23rd of October. While 23rd is a national holiday for Diwali, 22nd (Wed)- 24th (Fri) – 25th (Sat) are holidays in different parts of the country. And then comes Sunday.. so Happy New Year has every chance of breaking all weekend records. We wouldn’t be surprised if the 150 crore mark is breached over the extended 4 day weekend with limited preview shows a day before release (Wed) just like Chennai Express.

The other advantage for Happy New Year is the fact that there are no major releases after Bang Bang on 2nd October. No movies are scheduled to release in the pre-Diwali period.

Coming to the competition, Akshay Kumar’s It’s Entertainment releases two weeks after Kick and Ajay Devgn’s Action Jackson (unconfirmed) could release two weeks after Happy New Year.

In short, on paper, Happy New Year probably has a better date as it has plenty of holidays in its first weekend. But other factors like the response to the trailer, song promos, popularity of music and finally the word-of-mouth will play a bigger role in generating record-breaking numbers.

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