Why ‘Holiday’ is Akshay Kumar’s best bet at the box office

In the last few years, before the release of every medium to big budget film, the question has always been if a film can cross the 100 crore mark. But for Akshay Kumar, all of his last three releases after ‘Rowdy Rathore’ have struggled to cross 70 crores – which isn’t bad at all considering the fact that he has 3 to 4 releases every year.

But the expectations are high for his upcoming release ‘Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty’ for several reasons:

1. Release date: Every post-IPL release in the last 5 years or so have been hugely successful at the box office. New York (2009 – 47 crore), Ready (2011 – 121 crore), Rowdy Rathore (2012 – 133 crore) and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013 – 183 crore) have all released after a dull phase (exam season, IPL, lack of big releases) and plundered records for non-holiday releases. It remains to be seen if it can continue the trend, although beating the highest non-holiday record of YJHD will be tough.

2. No competition and open weeks: Action Jackson and Holiday were set for a clash at the ticket window on June 6th, but now that the clash has been averted, Holiday has not one but two open weeks at the box office as the next big film ‘Humshakals’ only arrives on 20th June. If Holiday is a well-made film, it has every chance of not only crossing the 70 crore hurdle, but also going on to become Akshay’s biggest grosser to date.

3. A.R. Murugadoss: The director of ‘Ghajini’ is widely regarded as one of the best directors in the South Indian film industry. Holiday is the remake of his own film ‘Thuppakki’, a huge blockbuster, which grossed around Rs 180 crore worldwide when it released in 2012. The film was well-received by the critics too.

4. Longest gap: Guess what? The gap of 8 months between Boss and Holiday is the longest period without an Akshay Kumar release since Andaaz and Khakee in 2003 / 04! It could be a positive factor for an established star like Akki. His die-hard fans and film buffs in general, who are used to seeing his films once every 3-4 months, might have finally gotten a chance to actually miss him!

The trailer and the music of the film has been received quite well too. However, quite a few factors could go against the film.

 

1. Title: Honestly, we believe the makers should have retained ‘Thuppakki’ for the Hindi version too. While the title ‘Holiday’ wouldn’t make much of a difference in bigger centres, it’s at the mass-centres where ‘Thuppakki’ would have had better appeal. Having said that, the averted clash with ‘Action Jackson’ will mean that ‘Holiday’ is the first big commercial release featuring a bankable ‘mass star’ after Jai Ho.

2. Akshay – Sonakshi pairing: The single biggest complaint across social media websites has been the Akshay Kumar – Sonakshi Sinha pairing. They were previously seen together in Rowdy Rathore, Joker, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobara and also a couple of special appearances in OMG! Oh My God and Boss. Their last two films together were box office failures. Akshay has always had this strange habit of repeating his heroines in back-to-back films, Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra for example, and for some reason he never returns back to them. Why doesn’t he mix it up a bit? Surely there is no shortage of leading ladies in the industry.

3. Costs: Holiday will be declared a outright flop if the film collects anything less than 80 crore at the domestic box office. The problem with his last release ‘Boss’ was that the multiplex audience simply didn’t turn up to watch the film in theatres, if that scenario repeats and the audience in bigger centres wait for the response on the film, it might have to rely on word-of-mouth publicity.

What do you think of the box office prospects of Akshay Kumar’s Holiday? Vote and tell us!