SOTY received well at the box-office

Unlike his previous directorial ventures which had Shah Rukh Khan as the protagonist, Karan Johar's latest release, SOTY starred three fresh faces —Alia Bhatt, daughter of Mahesh Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, son of David Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra, the latter two assisted Johar in My Name Is Khan. The film was seen as an experiment with the newbies. But the publicity, good music, amazing locations, superb styling and heavy duty performances of the actors did wonders and helped the film garner good collection at the box-office.

"The movie is being highly appreciated. This film has given birth to three new stars. Thanks to Karan who trusted the trio and invested huge amount of money on them. The youngsters are loving the film and it is set for a long run. Plus, with Dussehra and Bakri Eid holidays, the movie is going to do good business," says trade analyst Amod Mehra.

Talking about the film's performance in multiplexes, Girish Wankhede, Marketing Head, Cinemax India said, "On Friday, the film received a Pan India opening of 57 per cent. Saturday the occupancy rate was 65 per cent and Sunday it jumped on to 70 per cent. The film has caught the fantasy of the youngsters and despite exams or the on-going festivities, they are coming to watch the movie."

Even in single screens, the film had a good opening weekend. As per Constancio Barbosa, Assistant Manager of Regal Cinema, Mumbai, the movie had an opening of Rs.73,759.315 on Friday. On Saturday it jumped to Rs.1,00,881.15 and on Sunday it collected Rs.81,855.45

According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the film made a collection of Rs.29 to Rs.30 crore nett in its opening weekend at the box-office.

While SOTY was a success, Nikhil Advani's animation film, Delhi Safari saw an average opening. As per Wankhede, the film had a Pan India occupancy of 35-40 per cent over the weekend.

... contd.

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