While last year's Diwali package, Fashion and Golmaal Returns saw close to 100 per cent occupancy at theatres, this year's Diwali platter saw an average 65 to 70 per cent occupancy. Industry sources reveal that among the three releases, Blue and Main Aurr Mrs Khanna, failed to impress the audiences and have managed to recover only 20 per cent of production costs. Prakhar Joshi, programming head, PVR Cinemas, said that so far among the various releases since Diwali, it is All The Best that still manages to lure audiences to multiplexes.

Blue, made on a budget of Rs 100 crore, is the most expensive underwater film made in the Hindi film industry and Main Aurr Mrs Khanna was budgeted at around Rs 40 crore. According to trade analysts, Blue managed to attract the audiences till the second week, but has not been able to recover the production costs. Main Aurr Mrs Khanna did not see any appreciation from the audience since the day of its release."Though both films had good pre-release promotional activities to create a lot of hype, they could not hold audiences for long, due to poor content and a weak storyline. Despite of the high quality of visual effects and underwater stunts in Blue, the film lost its charm in the second week, whereas Main Aurr Mrs Khanna saw a huge dip in footfalls in the release weekend itself," Joshi added.

While trade analysts opine that films during the Diwali season lost their charm within two weeks, they are hopeful that the Diwali blues at the box-office will come to an end with the upcoming Friday releases of Tips' Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Madhur Bhandarkar's Jail. "Both the films carry a strong buzz and the promotions look very interesting. It will be interesting to see how well these films will perform over the next few days," said Joshi.

In spite of the Diwali releases not creating magic at the box-office this year, exhibitors said that various November releases like Kurbaan, De Dana Dan and Tum Mile have the spark to create magic. Following the weak show at the multiplexes on Diwali, recent post Diwali releases – London Dreams and Aladin - also reported dull openings on the first day. Producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah's London Dreams saw around 50 per cent occupancy on day one and a much lower 30 to 40 per cent at single screens. Meanwhile, the much-hyped genie-flick Aladin, starring Amitabh Bachchan as the genie, had an occupancy of only 20 per cent.

According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the slow start of the two films has been attributed to the non-exciting promotion and music, which was unable tp draw the attention of the audiences. While the occupancy of London Dreams moved up to around 60 per cent during the day at multiplexes, Aladin's dropped from 20 per cent to a mere 10 per cent.

Made on a budget of more than Rs 40 crore, both London Dreams and Aladin did not woo audiences as expected at multiplexes. "Multiplexes had huge hopes from both movies and we expected a blockbuster post Diwali. So far, London Dreams has done better business than Aladin," said an industry source. London Dreams grossed Rs 4.25 crore on the first day, garnering the highest collection of around Rs 1.50 crore and Rs 90 lakh from Mumbai and Delhi respectively. Meanwhile, multiplexes said that Aladin has been a disaster for the first weekend, grossing a poor collection of Rs 90 lakh on day one.

Joshi said, "London Dreams saw an average occupancy of 55 per cent, while Aladin had a much lower occupancy rate. While London Dreams made a business of Rs 1 crore, Aladin garnered only Rs 50 lakh.