The Friday of last week saw two Bollywood films debut – HIT – The First Case and Shabaash Mithu – with high hopes, but they soon came crashing down, with only Rs. 10 crores in the final box office outcome. Even in their wildest imaginations, this wasn’t the kind of outcome that one would have anticipated given the promising credentials of both films. Neither could draw in the crowds in their opening, and there was a complete lack of momentum over the weekend and then, in the weekdays. It was an utterly underwhelming performance from both films.
Although both films had targeted the multiplex market and specifically higher end locations, even this level of success should have seen them rake in around 20 to 30 crores each, even in the current state of the market. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. HIT – The First Case fared slightly better than its counterpart, with positive reviews and a relatively promising start on the first day, having collected over 1 crore. But ultimately, there was no tangible surge and the final earnings stood at 7.50 crores*.
Contrastingly, Shabaash Mithu had an uninspiring outcome as the box–office collection was only Rs. 2.75 crores*. This poor reception made it one of the lowest commercially grossing movies of 2022 and unable to receive any kind of traction. This poor reception can be accredited to the lack of interest from audiences and consequently the film did not gain any word-of-mouth popularity. To summarise, there were no salvaging qualities for this movie.
Combining the takings of both the films, only Rs. 10 crores have been achieved, making it an overwhelmingly unsuccessful outcome, since there won’t be any more collections beyond this point. Everything thus depends on the response they generate on OTT platforms.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
