Failure of 'Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan' 'Maidaan' hits theatre owners hard

The box office failure of Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan and Maidaan, two high-profile festival releases from Bollywood, has had a cascading effect on the exhibition sector, say theatre owners impacted by the poor showing of the movies.

Bade Miyan... and Maidaan, starring big stars like Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff and Ajay Devgn, respectively, released during the festival of Eid, a traditionally good period for theatrical releases, but failed to live up to expectations.

Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan said the situation is alarming in the first and second quarter of the financial year.

Not just these two releases, the first quarter of the year saw big-budget movies such as Fighter and Yodha also perform poorly. 

According to Chauhan, Fighter at least had a good opening in the range of Rs 25 to Rs 27 crore.

He said Eid, typically seen as a profitable period in the industry, has turned out to be "disastrous" due to the failure of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Maidaan.

The festive period is generally associated with a Salman Khan release but the superstar didn't have anything lined up this year.

According to box office tracking website Sacnilk, Bade Miyan..., reportedly made on a budget of over Rs 300 crore, has earned Rs 72 crore gross in India. Similarly, Maidaan, made at a reported budget of over Rs 200 crore, earned Rs 51 crore (gross) in India.

Akshay Rathi, who owns theatres in central India, says big-ticket movies, unlike last year which saw hits such as Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2 and Animal, have not fared well at the box office.

Chauhan fears the situation will continue to be "grim" in the second quarter, despite summer vacation.

Leading exhibitor and distributor Sunny Chandiramani, who runs 20 screens across Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, said the situation is so bad that he is thinking of shutting down some of the screens.

Manoj Desai, the executive director of Mumbai's iconic Gaiety Galaxy, also lamented the lacklustre run of movies at the box office, compared to last year.

Smaller films like Shaitaan, Laapataa Ladies, Madgaon Express and Crew did well, he added.

It is a wait-and-watch scenario for Chauhan, who hopes to increase the footfall in cinemas by reducing ticket prices.

The exhibitors have now pinned their hope on movies such as the Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Kalki 2898 AD, Kabir Khan's Chandu Champion with Kartik Aaryan, Devara starring Jr NTR's, Pushpa 2 fronted by Allu Arjun, the Ram Charan-led Game Changer, and Kamal Haasan's Indian 2.