Box office: Rustom soars high, Mohenjo Daro does average business in long weekend

Rustom has marched ahead of Mohenjo Daro at the box office in the first long weekend. The Akshay Kumar film has so far earned Rs67.50 crore while the Hrithik Roshan-starrer has collected Rs40 crore. 

The negative pre-release buzz and not-so-good word-of-mouth seems to have gone against the Ashutosh Gowariker-directed film. Though earning Rs40 crore in four days is decent, it is not enough for the film since it has been made at a budget of more than Rs100 crore. The film, which marks the debut of Pooja Hegde, may not be able to recover its production cost, leave alone earn profits.

On the other hand, Rustom, directed by Tinu Suresh Desai, has gone well past its cost of production of around Rs 50 crore in the first four days despite mixed reviews. The makers will now be eyeing the magic figure of Rs100 crore by the end of the first week itself. The next two days are holidays in some parts of India on account of Parsi New Year and Raksha Bandhan. So, both films can expect to earn more than what a film usually earns on a week day.