According to the International Movie Data Base, the film grossed $3 million while Variety, the trade publication, reckons it started with a $2.7 million.
Since the horror movie Saw that comes after Bride And Prejudice on both charts grossed about $1.8 million in its second weekend, the Chadha film is certainly the top film in United Kingdom -- but only if you follow IMDB.
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But IMDB, unlike Variety, did not count the weekend previews for Shark Tale which grossed about $4.4 million in over a dozen cities. It sent clear signals that it will have a whale of an opening next week when it will be shown on more than 400 screens several times during the day.
Shark Tale, which has been the top selling film in North America for two consecutive weeks having grossed an impressive $85 million, has emerged as a solid hit in a few other countries where it opened two weeks ago. Box office experts expect it to gross over $10 million in UK this weekend.
Chadha, co-producer Deepak Nayar and star Aishwarya Rai would naturally go by the IMDB chart, claiming the highest opening kudos for their first international film together. That would also make Chadha the only other director of Indian origin apart from M Night Shyamalan to open at top spot in the UK.
For many comparatively small films from independent companies, the opening weekend gross is crucial because depending on it, the distributor will decide whether to keep the film on the same number of screens or reduce the screens. In some cases, even for a film in wide release, significant and surprising opening means adding more theatres in the second week.
The Chadha musical comedy had the biggest screen count in UK, exceeded only by Wimbledon, also a British production, showing on 425 screens.
Despite being shown in a huge number of theaters, Bride And Prejudice also had the highest per screen average (about $8,000) in the country. It is possible it could add on a few hundred screens next week, thus slowing down the attrition rate.