Salman Khan set to dominate Eid once again, as Sultan earns solo release

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is set to dominate the Eid weekend once again, as the star power of the actor has earned his upcoming release ‘Sultan’ the second most lucrative release period of the year.

The under-performance of Dilwale and the failure of FAN is one of the reasons why Raees has moved, but to give credit where credit is due – taking on Salman Khan is not an option that anyone in the industry has at this point in time. His fan-following, especially at smaller centres, is light years ahead of everyone else and more so during the weekend that he has dominated for nearly 6 years.

Every Eid release, right from Dabangg in 2010 to Bajrangi Bhaijaan in 2015, has been a blockbuster or better – which is a phenomenal, never before achieved, record.

We had written an article just before the release of Chennai Express in 2013, which was titled ‘Bollywood clashes – Might Is Right‘. The article still holds true today. Unless the makers are extremely confident of the content of their films, it’s the bigger star who will always get the bigger dates.

It’s not about the history of your successful clashes or your past achievements, but for the trade, it’s all about an actor’s current standing in the industry. It’s all about business at the end of the day and whoever can generate higher footfalls in theatres, will be given the first preference (i.e bigger release at single-screens and higher number of shows at multiplexes – if there is a clash).

So it’ll be Sultan on Eid this year. Solo.

The film releases in theatres on July 6 (Wednesday), which would give it a 5-day extended weekend. It has 16 open days before the release of ‘Great Grand Masti’ on July 22. If content clicks, get ready for yet another Salman Khan blockbuster.