Bollywood unsettled by the Hollywood heat

Hollywood films are doing better business than Bollywood movies in the first half of this year.
A major example is Disney project “The Jungle Book” which created history of sorts at the Indian box office. The live action adaptation of the book by the same name, hit the screens on April 8, a week before its US premiere to avoid a box office clash with Shah Rukh Khan's “Fan”.
“Fan” had a very good opening, the highest this year, at nearly Rs 19 crore, clocking a whopping Rs 52.35 crore at the weekend. As against this, “The Jungle Book” opened at Rs 10 crores and registered a Rs 40 crore weekend.
However, later the box office scenario for both the films changed completely. “Fan” struggled to reach even Rs 90 crores while “The Jungle Book” raced past the Rs 100 crore mark.
By the end of its run, “Fan” made nearly Rs 85 crores while “The Jungle Book” shattered all previous records held by any Hollywood film released in India, earning nearly Rs 183 crores.
This is the highest earning film of the year so far, beating Akshay Kumar's “Airlift” which is the biggest Bollywood hit with Rs 127 crore. The margin between Bollywood's highest grosser of the year and “The Jungle Book”, is nearly Rs 60 crores.
“The Jungle Book” is not the only Hollywood film which scored better at the domestic box office. The superhero film “Deadpool”, released alongside Katrina Kaif-Aditya Roy Kapur starrer “Fitoor” on February 12 fared better.
The Tim Miller-directed Ryan Reynolds-starrer collected approximately Rs 29 crores at box office while “Fitoor”, helmed by “Kai Po Che” director Abhishek Kapoor, managed nearly Rs 19 crore.
One of the most awaited superhero movies of the year, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” managed to put up a total of Rs 36 crore in one week. The Zack Snyder-directed film clashed with John Abraham' “Rocky Handsome” which sank without a trace.
Another instance of Hollywood films doing much better business than Bollywood movies can be seen in the collections of “Captain America: Civil War” which clocked Rs 27 crore in the first weekend.

The film, which starred Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, and Scarlett Johansson among others, registered a total collection of approximately Rs 59 crore, which is more than Priyanka Chopra's “Jai Gangaajal”, Emraan Hashmi's “Azhar” and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Wazir”.
Hollywood product “X-Men: Apocalypse” clashed with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-starrer “Sarbjit” and had a better opening week than the latter. The superhero film clocked Rs 26 crore in its first week while the Omung Kumar-directed movie made nearly Rs 22 crore.
May 27 saw the release of three Bollywood films, “Phobia”, “Veerappan” and “Waiting” and one Hollywood project, “The Angry Birds Movie”. Here too the winner is Hollywood.
The animated action-adventure comedy earned Rs 9.4 crore in the opening weekend, more than the combined weekend collection of the three Bollywood films.
The animated film “Kung Fu Panda 3” also clocked impressive collections despite facing competition from “Ki & Ka”. The animated film raked in Rs 32 crore at the box office, which was just nearly Rs 20 crore shy of Kareena Kapoor Khan's “Ki & Ka” which made Rs 51 crores.
One clear message emanating from the analysis of the films' box office performance in the first six months of this is that morning does not always show the day. A bumper box office collection in the first week of the movie's release may fizzle out and turn out to be overall dampener. What matters is sustaining the viewership for a number of weeks to emerge the winner.
There are other Hollywood big-wigs releasing this year including “Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist”, “Suicide Squad”, “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them” and “Dr. Strange” among others. Will they also hit upcoming Bollywood movies?