Will Salman Khan do the same mistake he did with Jai Ho to save Tubelight from loss?
If box office collection is an indication of success, Tubelight has failed to perform. A quick look at the collective collection of Baahubali: The Conclusion and Dangal shows that Salman Khan’s Tubelight stands on ninth position in terms of pre-release box office collection.
Box office story of Tubelight
Tubelight was released in 4,400 screens in India and 900 screens across the globe but it failed to make its mark on box office. This 100 crore moving lags behind its predecessors in terms of number of tickets sold. Box office collection reveals a grim picture for Tubelight. Even PK, Ek Tha Tiger, Chennai Express and the recently released Raees were much better in number of tickets sold than Tubelight. Film critics blame high price of tickets for low collection at box office.
Slaman Khan’s experiment with ticket pricing
Salman Khan once said that he won’t interfere in determining ticket price as he did with Jai Ho. Ticket prices of Jai Ho were sliced to INR 250 from the usual price of Rs. 600-900. Would ticket prices of Tubelight be reduced to increase box office collection and number of tickets sold? Reducing ticket prices seems to be the only option left for Tubelight but Salman Khan is against price reduction.
The Jai Ho case
Jai Ho was released in approximately 4,000 screens in India on January 24, 2014. It did fairly well in domestic as well as international market. Made with a budget of INR 650 million, Jai Ho made INR 188 million on the opening day, and the total collection of first week of the movie was INR 606.8 million. Also it emerged as the fifth movie to cross 200 crore income in three days. In overseas market, Jai Ho made $3.55 million in the opening week and its total profit was estimated to be at $6 million. Was this impressive collection due to reduced ticket prices isn’t known but Salman Khan admitted that reducing ticket prices was a mistake. He argued that if box office collection can be increased by reducing prices then any picture can become a hit.
Domestic and international market reception of Tubelight
Tubelight is doing fairly well in North India where major multiplexes reported more than 50% occupancy. In overseas market, Tubelight received a thumping response in UAE. But Tubelight is yet to be released in Pakistan and it isn’t clear whether it is going to China where Dangal has created a tsunami for Indian films. With more than 40,000 screens, China becomes the second largest movie market and Dangal has proved that Indian movies can do business in China.
What makes Tubelight fit for China market?
• Veteran actor Om Puri played his last role in the movie
• Khan brothers Salman and Sohail
• Salman Khan suffers from an unusual disorder
• Set in the backdrop of Sino-Indian war
• Inclusion of a Chinese actor
Should Tueblight see its future in China?
What I’m thinking now is whether the Chinese actor Zhu Zhu was involved in the movie with an eye on Chinese market. It is my personal view and it could differ from others. If this is the case then there is nothing wrong in it. Involvement of a Chinse star would certainly help Tubelight in China.
