2009 has had its share of big banners and some hits too but all of those films have long disappeared into the background since last Friday when Wanted made a debut on the big screen!
Box Office India analysts and reporters are possibly sick and tired of reporting the same old news every day on their official website, that is “Wanted broke ‘x’ record today” or “Wanted is predicted to break ‘y’ record tomorrow”. Economists had predicted that Wanted would give Love Aaj Kal’s records a run for its money if it were able to run full houses till Monday after its release. Furthermore, they stated that given the genre of the film, which is much similar to that of last year’s biggest blockbuster Ghajini, it would most likely be 09’s biggest hit. However, Wanted’s performance has gone way beyond this prediction and the film is running packed houses on its 8th day!
The success of Wanted is rather unusual because the performance of the film is living up to expectations in the big multiplexes however, this really becomes incomparable and insignificant when tallies are made of its single screen collections. Thus in the words of producer Boney Kapoor “the power of single screen even in the 21st century is not to be underestimated!”
Furthermore, the success is rather commendable since Wanted released alongside Yash Raj Films’ Dil Bole Haddipa which stars Shahid Kapoor, who is in more demand than ever post Kaminey, and Rani Mukherji, whom the audience are craving to see. Sadly Shahid and Rani could only work their magic to an extent in multiplexes and overseas but everywhere else the magic of Salman Khan was simply too powerful!
Last Friday, Ashotush Gowariker, Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra’s much anticipated What’s Your Rashee? has entered the battlefield with dreams to sideline Wanted however, no such luck for the talented trio. Box Office India’s report as off 10am Saturday stated that the film received a shockingly poor opening all over including multiplexes and as for single screens well no question for it to rule there as Wanted is running rock steady in single screens!
Lastly, none of this can be proven solid until some convincing figures so here they are! First week collections of Wanted are no different to the high record set by Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi last year and is definitely way ahead of the record set by this year’s biggest release Love Aaj Kal. However, the best is yet to come, given its business until now Box Office analysts predict the film to emerge as amongst the list of India’s top 10 theatrical revenue earners! That’s right the film is predicted to do a lifetime business of 40 crore matching up to films like Krissh and Om Shanti Om and zooming way past blockbusters like Raja Hindustani, Welcome, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham!
However, one mustn’t forget that this week will be a worth while test for Wanted as October has some very big releases slated and kicking off the month is a David Dhawan film plus the highly anticipated Wake Up Sid. So only time will tell what’ll happen to Wanted in the month of October!
As of now, congratulation are in order for SK Films, Sahara One Entertainment and of course the whole cast and crew of Wanted who’s hard work has certainly paid off!
