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Sunday, 28th September 05:00 PM IST After 45 days of dull period at box office, 'Bang Bang' and 'Haider' will kick-start the most lucrative last quarter at box office. This clash on 2nd October is very interesting in more than one way. For audience it is about Hrithik Roshan versus Shahid Kapoor or Katrina Kaif's charisma and box office lucky mascot Shraddha Kapoor. But with in the industry it is different picture and more complex one. As soon as first teaser of 'Bang Bang' was unveiled, distributors went berserk and film was sold within few days. Distributors had paid exorbitant price for the film and film needs to do 200 cr nett plus for few territories like Rajasthan, CP, Mysore and West Bengal. On the other hand, 'Haider' has shoe string budget as director Vishal Bhardwaj and leading man Shahid Kapoor have not charged anything for the film so even 50 cr nett plus total will be sufficient to take it to the safe zone. Another interesting aspect is the studios backing both the films. U TV Motion Pictures is backing 'Haider' and Fox Star is betting big on 'Bang Bang'. Few important strategic members of U TV moved to Fox in last few months which has made this clash also a clash of egos between both the studio. UTV smartly booked single screens for 'Haider' in Mumbai and Delhi in July when deals for Salman Khan starrer 'Kick' was underway. Even if any exhibitor thinks of ditching it at the last minute, U TV also has biggest release 'P.K.' in December and no exhibitor wishes to miss that big ticket film. If this is not enough, we got EXCLUSIVE lists of single screens in Delhi which will play 'Haider' and that will result in no show for 'Bang Bang' in NCR in single screens except few PVR held single cinemas i.e. Golcha. This means audience has to shell out 350-500 INR in multiplex to watch the 'Bang Bang' but 'Haider' tickets will be available for 100 INR in these single screens. Find list of single screen cinemas booked for 'Haider' only - Delite Diamond, Shiela, Liberty, Eros One, Vishal, M Cinema, Amba, Batra Reel, Milan, Regal Theatre, Batra, Seble, Gagan, Aakash, Ritz, Samrat, Abhishek, Moti Cinema, Supreme, Suraj Cinema, Lokesh In Mumbai, most of the single screens will split the shows in the ratio of 2:3 where 'Bang Bang' will have 3 shows and 'Haider' will have 2 shows. This whole scenario will result in a very complex situation especially for a very costly film like 'Bang Bang'. Overall 'Haider' will be released 1200-1300 screens and 'Bang Bang' will get 3300-3500 screens. Overall 'Bang Bang' will get big opening and clear advantage but this whole single screen loss and release size can cost film around 15% of collection especially over extended holiday aided weekend. 'Haider' will have capacity of 13-14 cr nett on day one and that means on national holiday even an average occupancy of 45-50% can take it close to 6 cr nett which will not be a bad result for the film considering competition. On other hand, 'Bang Bang' will target 35 cr nett opening day but realistically single screen loos will make it tough for the film to cross 32 cr nett in best case scenario. But yes, finally everything will boil down to content and word of mouth will decide the real winner of this battle. |