Tuesday, 30th July 09:00 PM IST

Here comes the big festival and Bollywood is ready with one big release which has now become the norm for the last few years. Salman Khan celebrated Eid in style with "Ek Tha Tiger", "Bodyguard" and "Dabangg". This year its Shahrukh Khan's turn to capitalize this big box office bonus with his latest offering "Chennai Express" directed by master of masses Rohit 'hit' Shetty.

Today on popular demand, we are bringing these early estimated predictions for “Chennai Express” ten days in advance instead of 5 days.

Release Size:

Film had all sort of battles (behind the curtains) to get a dream release. Earlier Akshay starrer OUATIMD was slated to clash on Eid but after few closed-door talks among producers, it got shifted to 15th August which is now a win-win situation for both. But since lot of water has flown down the bridge, UTV is muscling its way for big release.

There will not be many exhibitors who will accept the fact openly but truth is that "Chennai Express" will have 3500 screens at least on disposal from 8th August (preview shows) to 14th August. Even on 15th August when OUATIMD hits cinemas, "Chennai Express" will retain minimum of 2000 screens as few exhibitors (yes more than few!) have signed for at least 2 weeks for the film. This means that the film will be in many single screens till 30th August when next UTV biggie "Satyagraha" arrives. That will ensure better 2nd and 3rd week figures.

The Film And Content:

Film’s music has received very good response and liked by masses in big way. One needs to keep in mind that its not some SRK starrer love saga so it is massy chartbuster somewhat similar to Rohit Shetty's earlier films. Content will be fitting to big occasion of Eid and will be clean full on family entertainer.

For last few years we witnessed that its deliverance of content against what promised has proved to be the crucial factor. This has always been the key of Rohit Shetty's success. Few might criticize him or mock him but he has played to gallery with stupendous success.

The Cast:

Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone ruled box office with "Om Shanti Om" few years back and now this time they are back with same kind of entertaining product. On one hand it might be odd for few to see SRK doing more of Ajay and Salman style full on masala entertainer but for most of fans, it will be a treat to watch him in this avatar.  

The Numbers:

Now we know that "Chennai Express" will have paid previews on 8th August from as early as 4 PM/6 PM onwards at different places. Going by the reports, these previews will be all over the country and that speaks about confidence over content from the production house.

On one hand, this will give film blistering start at box office but on the other hand it will reduce few crores out of day one. But going by the logic of holiday on 9th, it seems silly to calculate that way because we have seen in past that films (i.e. "3 Idiots", "Ghajini" and "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag") actually got benefited by preview buzz and craze.

As far as overseas box office is concerned, film will do well without doubt due to presence of Shahrukh Khan but its massy appeal might not allow it to cross 80 crore considering past record.

We have compiled this prediction considering the information that we got from leading distributors and exhibitors about film's prospects and agreements about screen size in week 2 and week 3.

Box Office Prediction: