Tiger Zinda Hai roars at the box office

Analysts believe the film should cross Rs 120 crore over the four-day weekend.
Urvi Malvania reports.

The Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif starrer Tiger Zinda Hai is the biggest opener from Bollywood this year with a first day collection of Rs 33.75 crore (Rs 337.5 million).

The sequel to 2012's Ek Tha Tiger has beaten the first instalment as well.

The 2012 flick opened at Rs 30.75 crore (Rs 307.5 million) and went on to make Rs 198 crore (Rs 1.98 billion) in its lifetime (domestic net box office collection after tax).

Tiger Zinda Hai also becomes the third most successful opener for Khan after 2015's Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo (Rs 39.5 crore/Rs 395 million) and 2016's Sultan (Rs 36.5 crore/Rs 365 million).

Tiger Zinda Hai is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar who also helmed Sultan (lifetime domestic box office Rs 300 crore/Rs 3 billion).

'It is an overwhelming and a humbling moment,' Zafar said. 'I thank the audiences for showering so much love on Tiger Zinda Hai. The cast and crew and the entire YRF team have toiled their hearts out and this incredible success will be cherished by all of us.'

'I'm delighted that the film has lived up to the expectations of the fans of India's biggest action hero Salman Khan and that audiences are enjoying the film across the country and giving us such huge thumbs up.'

The action flick, however, falls short of the Baahubali 2: The Conclusion's (Hindi dub version) opening day collection of Rs 41 crore (Rs 410 million).

"Tiger Zinda Hai has delivered on expectations," says Suniel Wadhwa, an independent box office analyst, "debuting with the almost Rs 34 crore at the domestic box office and setting a new non-holiday release record. It is also the fourth largest opening day of all-time (in Bollywood) if we exclude Baahubali 2 - The Conclusion Hindi dub version. This (performance) is despite facing some disturbances in Rajasthan."

The film managed to collect nearly Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) on opening day in Rajasthan despite calls for boycotts after a controversy surrounding Khan's comments on a caste in the state. Analysts believe that while the collection from Rajasthan is healthy, there would have been some losses due to these issues.

The outlook for the film in its first weekend is favourable since critics and audiences seem to have mostly positive feedback.

"It is the largest audience-to-critic matching score for the second instalment of franchise," Wadhwa adds.

The film has opened to mostly neutral to positive reviews from critics, being praised for its action sequences in particular. The word of mouth on social media also seems positive.

The biggest positive for the movie perhaps is the long weekend and a fairly open run at the box office with no major releases in the weeks before or after it hit the cinema screens.

Tiger Zinda Hai was released on 4,600 screens across the country and 1,100 screens abroad.

According to trade analyst Taran Adrash, the film opened well in Australia and New Zealand, collection just shy of Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million).

Analysts believe the film should cross Rs 120 crore (Rs 1.2 billion) over the four-day weekend (Monday being a public holiday on account of Christmas).

Khan's movies getting a good start over a long weekend tend to have a multiplier effect in the range of 2.5x to 3.5x of the opening day collection. (Multiplier effect refers to the number of times the opening collection multiplies to result in the opening weekend collection.)

Made at close to Rs 150 crore (rs 1.5 billion), the film also stars Paresh Rawal, Angad Bedi and newcomer Sajjad Delafrooz.