Box-office clashes in 2018: SRK, Anushka, Salman, Aishwarya’s films to battle it out

From Salman Khan’s Race 3 and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s Fanney Khan to Sidharth Malhotra’s Aiyaary and Anushka Sharma’s Pari, we take a look the Bollywood films set to clash in 2018.

Bollywood churns out hundreds of films every year, all vying for the 52 Fridays available. So, there are bound to be clashes at the box office. And the coming year is no different.

Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer Singh and Sushant Singh Rajput’s films will release together on December 21 next year.

Sidharth Malhotra’s Aiyaary will take on Anushka Sharma’s Pari on Feb 9, and actor Rani Mukerji’s Hichki and John Abraham’s Parmanu will release on Feb 23. March 2 will see a clash between Drive and Hate Story 4. “A good film will grow regardless of any Friday… or any other film releasing with it. And it’s really unfortunate that we are releasing Aiyaary with somebody else, but today, you can’t avoid it with so many films releasing at the same time. However, as an actor, it is not something that plays on my head because it’s beyond my control,” says Sidharth.

Aiyaary takes on Pari on February 9, 2018.

As the year progresses into festive weekends, the stakes get higher. Ex-lovers Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Salman Khan’s films Fanney Khan and Race 3 respectively are set for an Eid release — becoming the latest announcement. “It’s official... #FanneyKhan confirmed for Eid 2018...” trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted on Friday.

Ajay Devgn’s Baadshaho had clashed with Ayushmann Khurrana-Bhumi Pednekar starrer Shubh Mangal Saavdhan this year.

Filmmaker Milan Luthria, who produced the film Baadshaho that clashed with Ayushmann Khurrana’s Shubh Mangal Saavdhan this year, says, “It’s survival of the fittest. It’s all about making sure you get enough number of screens and the big boys sometimes tend to have more muscle. But distributors are clever — they know how to adjust screens.”

Asked if sometimes producers play dirty games, like forcing the multiplex chain owners to give them more screens in lieu of getting their next film, Luthria agrees, “That also happens, because at the end of the day, it’s a business, everybody will try to get the best for their products.”

As for the number of screens, that’s where the real issue lies, says trade expert Atul Mohan. “India may be the largest producer of films in the world, but it still only has about 8,000 theatres, whereas China has 30,000, and US some 40,000. We aren’t ready to accommodate even two big films on the same day.”

Remind him that earlier this year SRK’s Raees and Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil had released on the same day and both did well, and Mohan says, “They did well, but each film could have earned more had they released separately.”

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