The King's Speech is king on the charts
Now that the Oscar films are on their way out of cinemas, it’s time to find out which one of them raked in the most at the Indian box-office. And the verdict is unanimous. Colin Firth's The King’s Speech grossed over R 3 crore in its three-week run, followed by Black Swan, which made a little less.
The end of March also concludes the Oscar season, when movies nominated for the Academy Awards are released in India. Now that they are on their way out of cinemas, it’s time to find out which one of them raked in the most at the Indian box-office. And the verdict is unanimous.
The King’s Speech
grossed over R 3 crore in its three-week run, followed by
Black Swan
, which made a little less.
Trade veteran Komal Nahta, editor of weekly Film Information, points out that the movies have done well only in metros like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Delhi. “
The King’s Speech
and
Black Swan
were not dubbed in Hindi, so they did limited business,” he says, adding that only big filmmakers and franchise movies work at the Indian box-office. “Films like
Iron Man
(2008),
Mission Impossible
(1996),
Titanic
(1997) and
Avatar
(2009) do well. Otherwise, English films have a limited market.”
Rajender Singh, assistant vice president, programming and distribution, INOX Cinemas, attributes the films’ success to their content. “That’s why
The King’s Speech
and
Black Swan
did well,” he says, adding that the Colin Firth film had a lot of hype around it. As for Black Swan, an observer attributes its lag to the genre.
“Though audiences know that Oscar films are more serious in nature, the Natalie Portman starrer was kind of morbid. Maybe that’s why it didn’t draw in as much as
The King’s Speech
,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Suniel Wadhwa, owner of 52 Weeks Entertainment Inc asserts, “The Oscar relevance certainly influences audiences who regularly watch English movies.”
However, Mark Walhberg starrer
Fighter
didn’t win at the box-office. According to Singh, “
Fighter
was a more universal subject. That’s perhaps why it didn’t do as well, as the Oscar audiences prefer different content.”
The Social Network
, which re-released to cash in on the Oscar fever, failed to do as well as it had during its initial release. At the same time, a multiplex chain wasn’t too enthused by the numbers. The CEO, who declined to be quoted on record, said, “The figures are nothing great. What’s the point of comparing figures like 22 to 25 per cent opening for
The King’s Speech
and 15 to 20 per cent for
Black Swan
?”
