Rustom exceeds expectations on Day 1

Akshay Kumar’s Rustom has exceeded expectations on its opening day at the box office. The film was running at more than double the occupancy of Mohenjo Daro at multiplexes. The first day collections of the film could touch the 15 crore mark, when the final collections come in.

It was a clever marketing strategy that has resulted in an excellent opening day for Rustom. In comparison, Special 26 collected Rs 5.92 crore (clash with ABCD), Baby collected 9.30 crore and Airlift collected Rs 12.35 crore. Rustom managed a better opening than all those films, inspite of facing competition from a big film like Mohenjo Daro.

When one big film releases, the audience has two choices – either to watch the film or not watch it. When there are two big movies, it becomes a weekend that’s not to be missed and the choice comes down to one film or the other. It’s this exact scenario that the makers of Rustom cashed in on and the decision to go ahead with the clash probably came after the poor response to the theatrical trailer of Mohenjo Daro.

The success of Bajirao Mastani last year and Rustom this year, will soon makes clashes a norm in the industry. As soon as a film or a star begins to appear weak or there are internal reports that a big film hasn’t shaped up as well as it was expected to, there is likely to be another film announcement for the same day.