Kapoor and Sons off to a decent start at box office

The film made Rs 6.5 cr on the first day and may earn Rs 20 cr by end of the weekend if the World T20 match between India and Pakistan doesn't play too much of a spoilsport

Dharma Productions’ latest family drama Kapoor and Sons has opened with collections of Rs 6.5 crore. The film, directed by Shakun Batra, has an ensemble cast of Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rajat Kapoor, Siddharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt and Fawad Khan and was released in 1,500 screens worldwide by Fox Star Studios.

Analysts believe that this is a decent start to the film’s box office campaign, though the opening weekend stands to bear a blow from the India-Pakistan match at the ongoing ICC World T20. However, positive word of mouth on social and good reviews by critics are expected to help the film attract viewers even after the first weekend. Pundits peg the first weekend collection at above Rs 20 crore, if the Saturday collections are not hit badly by the match on Saturday.

Suniel Wadhwa independent distributor and box office analyst says: “Kapoor and Sons' opening day was decent to average business at Rs 6.50 crore as it caters to metro cities targeting urban audience demographic. Music played a vital role for opening day as one of the song is chartbuster. Saturday being a crucial match will hit the collections, which means Monday will be an acid test which will put first week and lifetime box office into perspective. However, considering low cost of the film it will easily sail through as ancillary rights have fetched good money for music and satellite rights.”

Made at a budget of Rs 35 crore, the film is pretty well placed in terms of returns on investment since music and satellite rights have fetched the producer Rs 6 crore and Rs 12 crore respectively (approx.). This means that Kapoor and Sons needs to make around Rs 45 crore (net after tax) at the domestic box office to break even and make profits.

Analysts believe that the approaching summer vacations will help the film draw audiences to the theatres, especially in the younger age groups. Historically speaking, films with a niche appeal, but positive word of mouth tend to do well at the box office and turn out to be profitable ventures as far as the cost is rationalised. Last year, Shoojit Sircar’s Piku started its box office journey with Rs 5 crore on the opening Friday, but managed to make Rs 80 crore during its lifetime, and was one of the most profitable movies of the year. Similarly, Tanu Weds Manu Returns started with Rs 8 crore in opening day collections and ended its box office stint at Rs 152 crore.

The producers also have the international box office revenue to bank on. Fox Star has released the film in 600 screens across traditional overseas Bollywood markets like UK, North America (US and Canada) and West Asia. Given its contemporary India setting, the film is expected to appeal to audiences beyond the Indian diaspora, and the outlook for the international performance is positive.