Bajrangi Bhaijaan vs Sultan vs PK: Box Office Collections

Only two films have crossed the 300 crore mark so far: Aamir Khan – Anushka – Rajkumar Hirani’s PK and Salman Khan – Kabir Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Salman, under Ali Abbas Zafar’s direction and Anushka as his lead heroine, will have yet another go at the 300 crore club, as his latest release ‘Sultan’ has already collected ? 181 crore in 5 days at the box office.

Release factors in favour and against all three films:

• PK (December 2014) : 3900 screens, highest average ticket price, 3 open weeks, no competition
• Bajrangi Bhaijaan (July 2015) : 4000 screens, lowest average ticket price (compared to other two), 2 open weeks, competition from Baahubali
• Sultan (July 2016) : 4350 screens, 2nd highest average ticket price, 1 open week, competition from Great Grand Masti from Week 2.

July 11 Update: At the end of 5 days, Bajrangi Bhaijaan had collected 151.05 crore, PK had collected ? 135.79 crore and Sultan has accumulated ? 180.36 crore. So, Salman Khan’s latest release is ? 29.31 crore ahead of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and a whopping ? 44.57 crore ahead of PK. Interestingly, the highest single day of Sultan was lower than the highest single day of both Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PK!

On Day 6, PK collected ? 19.55 crore, while Bajrangi Bhaijaan notched up ? 18.05 crore. Both were working weekdays. But since Sultan had a extended 5-day weekend, during which business was at a very high level throughout, it’ll be interesting to see where Monday finishes for Sultan.

We’ll be analysing the trend over the next few days. Even if Sultan collects about half of what PK collected after its first 5 days, the film will cross the 300 crore mark. If it matches pace and collects as much as PK did, then it’ll get close to the unbelievable 400 crore mark! If it collects as well as Bajrangi Bhaijaan, it’ll be the highest grosser of all time and cross the 350 crore mark!

July 12 Update: Sultan has collected Rs 15.54 crore on its 6th day at the box office, which is the same as what Bajrangi Bhaijaan collected on its 7th day. The reduction in multiplex ticket prices, along with a majority of audience watching the film in the first extended weekend itself – meant that the film had a ‘bigger-than-expected’ drop on Monday. At the end of the 6th day, Bajrangi Bhaijaan had collected 169.1 crore, while PK had collected 163.34 crore. Sultan is ahead of BB by 26.8 crore and PK by 32.56 crore. The gap with PK has reduced quite considerably and should decrease further tomorrow, because the Christmas holiday was on the 7th day of its run.

From the first Monday collections of Sultan – one thing is clear, the 400 crore mark is now beyond the reach of the film and even becoming the highest grosser of all time could prove to be difficult. However, it does have a good chance of crossing the 300 crore mark and even challenging the lifetime business of Bajrangi Bhaijaan (possibly even PK, if picks up in the 2nd weekend). The release of Great Grand Masti won’t have a big impact on Sultan, but on a lower level, it will definitely make a small dent on business – because a section of the audience will have a choice to make and the repeat audience at smaller centres could also reduce.

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