Box Office: Jodha Akbar opening falls 11 crores short; 2nd week advance

UTV software has claimed a Rs 38.5 crore opening weeked gross (including overseas) claim for Jodha Akbar, 25 crores of which they claim are India grosses. These, notwithstanding disputes, are decent, not historic recordbreaking opening numbers that was being expected for the mega budget epic.

Below are the opening weekend distributor worldwide gross figures for some high profile films of last year whose distributors released their weekend figures:

Salaam-E-Ishq - Rs. 50 crore (Eros)
Partner - Rs. 42 crore (Eros)
Heyy Baby - Rs 41 crore (Eros)
Jodha Akbar - Rs. 39 crore (UTV)
Jab We Met - Rs. 12 crore (UTV)

These figures again are distributor claims, not independently verified. At times, ticket sales have been believed to be much less than advertised claims.

Meanwhile advance booking for 2nd week for Jodha Akbar has opened to an underwhelming response again Except for south which is better on limited screenings, bookings in Mumbai stand at 25% for its 2nd Friday despite a blank open week with no releases. That is below average for 2nd week. For reference, the film is trending worse than Hrithik Roshan's last non-hit at the box office, Lakshya.

Moreover unlike Lakshya, the film is still recording 0 collections from Rajasthan and looks to be heading for a washout from that territory, which means a loss of upto 6-7 crores, including in part the other centers where the screenings were stopped.

Pirate CDs have also come out in the market and videos are available on the internet.

At best, Jodha Akbar looks to be an above average/average film and having been forced out of the northwest, if the collections in other parts of India don't turn upside over the coming week, it can still be heading towards emerging the first big budget flop of 2008, a major loss of a film many were hoping would set new box office milestones across India for years to come.

Courtesy: Ibosnetwork.com