Box office: A Gentleman, Babumoshai Bandookbaaz off to a disappointing start

Five new Hindi releases hogged most of the theatre screens, but none could manage to get a good opening at the box office.

Sidharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez’s A Gentleman has been released in 2,000-2,500 screens, but could earn a poor Rs3.50 crore nett on its opening day, as reported by BoxOfficeIndia.com.

Produced by Fox Star Studios, A Gentleman is made at an estimated budget of Rs60 crore, including Rs15 crore for printing and advertising. A Gentleman had a poor opening and the action thriller has a huge battle ahead.

Malhotra’s last release Baar Baar Dekho had an opening weekend collection of Rs20.99 crore nett. A Gentleman will have to pull up its socks over the next two days if it has to make an impression at the box office.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s dark film Babumoshai Bandookbaaz which is made at an estimated budget of Rs14 crore, has been released in 1,200 screens. The low budget film also had a disappointing opening of Rs1.25 crore nett.  

Yash Raj Films' Qaidi Band, featuring two newcomers (Aadar Jain and Anya Singh), is made at an estimated budget of Rs20 crore. The film has been released in 600-plus screens. The opening collection was said to be below Rs15 lakh nett. The same fate met Amol Gupte’s Sniff!!!. The children’s film has released in only 200-300 screens.

The poor opening of the new releases has turned 25 August into a black Friday for the industry. Growth for any of the new releases will depend upon purely on word-of-mouth, which doesn't seem to be positive for most of them.