But the weekend occupancy figures tell a completely different story. At Cinemax properties across India, Kurbaan opened to a poor 45 per cent on Friday with a five per cent increase in the occupancy rates on weekends. The paid previews at Cinemax, Versova had a 40 to 50 percent occupancy for all their five shows. Says Girish Wankhede, Deputy GM, Corporate Communications and Public Relations, Cinemax, “The film has opened to a lukewarm response that’s nothing to boast about. It might pick up on Tuesday due to the Vodafone Tuesday where you buy one ticket and get one free , but the real test will be after that. Except for a late-night show on Sunday, all shows had about 50 percent occupancy.”
At Fun Cinemas, Kaminey had the highest occupancy of 80 percent followed by Wake Up Sid, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Kambakkht Ishq for paid previews.
Vishal Kapoor, COO, Fun Cinemas, says, “Pre-release hype is different from post- release sustain ability, which is still governed by strong word of mouth. Hence even if APKGK ranked third among paid preview grossers, it still managed to run successfully for over three weeks at the box-office. Paid previews are done to ease pressure on weekends for movies expected to run houseful on weekends,” He also adds that “In spite of the sizzling on-screen chemistry of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, Kurbaan managed to open at a modest 35 per cent occupancy across India.”
UTV’s last release, Wake Up Sid released with 700 prints across 420 screens while Kurbaan released with nearly 1300 prints and an additional 800 digital prints. Wake Up Sid earned 54 lakhs in paid previews alone. At Big Cinemas, the paid preview details for the last three films were as follows. Kurbaan had 61 paid preview shows across India with occupancy of 41 per cent. APKGK had 29 shows across India, with 56 per cent occupancy. Do Knot Disturb had 29 shows across India with an occupancy of 45 per cent. Kurbaan has 400 shows across India at Big Cinemas properties and 250 shows at PVR.
Amod Mehra, trade analyst, shares his point of view. “Kurbaan had a poor opening with hardly 40 per cent occupancy. Even paid previews had just 50 per cent occupancy. APKGK certainly had a better collection at paid previews as it shows were jam-packed. Kurbaan has no chances of picking up. Nobody is interested in spending 250 rupees to watch serious stuff. I’d rather get entertained, watching a fun film.”
Sunil Wadhwa, Vice-President, Distribution, UTV Motion Pictures, said, “It is certainly UTV’s biggest release this year, no doubt about that. It released in 1498 screens across India including digital and physical prints. It had close to 80 per cent occupancy and at a few places even additional shows were added after seeing the response. At PVR properties it has done really well. The advance booking for the film has evoked a 100 per cent response and we have also got a request to add more shows at PVR. They just had one paid preview and another one was added later on after seeing the response. Our last release Wake Up Sid was a niche film. It also did pretty well but and had 80 to 90 per cent occupancy for paid previews. Kurbaan opened to an average 40 per cent and then later on picked up on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, we saw almost 70 per cent occupancy. When there are many shows at a multiplex, the actual result in terms of occupancy will not be high because too many screens divide the audience. The occupancy will be less but the relative numbers will be comparatively high.”
