Huge expectations were riding on last week's Eid releases, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Maidaan.
After all, Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff were coming together in an Ali Abbas Zafar directed actioner with a title that connected with audiences in a big way, while Ajay Devgn had declared Maidaan as his best film till date.
But a few jolts came in the way of their release.
There was ambiguity around the exact date of Eid, so that when it was announced that the festival would fall on Thursday, not Wednesday, a few last minute changes had to be made despite the fact that advance booking had already opened.
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan decided to arrive on Thursday while Maidaan opened with paid preview shows on Wednesday.
Till the last hour, there was also a scramble between distributors to get better allocation of screens.
Hence, the kind of momentum that one expected for these films was missing.
The first day combined collections of both films was underwhelming with only a little over Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) coming in.
While Bade Miyan Chote Miyan managed to edge past the Rs 16 crore (Rs 160 million) mark (when expectations were of at least Rs 25 crore/Rs 250 million), Maidaan earned only Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million).
Since Friday was a working day, collections dipped even further. But they put up a fight on the weekend, and showed some growth.
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan stands at Rs 41 crore* (Rs 410 million) while Maidaan has collected Rs 22 crore* (Rs 220 million).
These are expensive films starring superstars and hence need more to get a respectable lifetime score.
With no major notable release coming up, and if the word-of-mouth comes into action, one may expect a miracle.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.
