John Abraham’s latest film, Attack, which stars him as a superhuman solider, took a dismal start with the movie collecting approximately Rs. 2.85 to 3.15 crore on opening day according to industry analysts’ estimates- much lower than the top end estimate of Rs.5crore plus predicted pre-release. For an action-packed thriller such as Attack, this was far too low an opening (it made less than 1% of what Amitabh Bachchan’s recent release Thugs Of Hindostan made).
Given this slow start and considering that it faced stiff competition from other films for ticket sales (on Friday alone there were seven major releases), Attack should have been able to use early viewers to its advantage by attracting later viewers; instead, across board numbers were stagnant; making matters worse are reports suggesting that cinema turnout during matinees too had fallen significantly compared to past blockbusters (i.e., Baadshaho).
The first step for Attack will be to surpass the lifetime collections of John Abraham’s last two films; Mumbai Saga and Satyameva Jayate 2. They can only talk about it reaching the Rs. 20 crore net mark if they keep up this trend on Saturday and Sunday, while predicting its success would be folly at this point in time.
But this isn’t happening, which speaks volumes when looking back at how well Attack was received before release thanks to slick promotions in addition to high expectations based off of three decades of Hollywood style action flicks. As per estimates provided by trade experts outside India, if Assault manages to make around Rs 200-300 crores worldwide combined with Indian theatres then there could still potentially be a chance for it breaking records here too if we’re talking purely from an economical standpoint!
