The funeral drums are beating.
Ah, the dirge. Unbearable, the harsh sounds of the wails.
Folks, the UK box office numbers for the Vikram-Aishwarya Rai starrer Raavanan (Tamil) are out and they are ugly.
Mon dieu, Raavanan’s box office numbers are worse than that that of the infernal Kuruvi:
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Raavanan UK Box Office – Ayyo, Worse than Kuruvi added by SearchIndia.com on
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liked this review, a little tamer than SI, but still the same
http://blogeswari.blogspot.com/
“If Vikram is Phd, Abhishek Bachchan is 10th fail, copy adichUM”is true
Not too bad given it’s somewhere there in the top four. Mani Ratnam, however, shouldn’t feel like showing his face to the outside world again for some time to come.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Mani Ratnam, however, shouldn’t feel like showing his face to the outside world again for some time to come
The audience should do for Mani Ratnam what Beera/Veera does for his brother (shave his head, place him on a donkey and give him a ride).
Bad one Searchindia. None of these figures is an indication of how bad or how good the movies is, or is doing.
Per theatre collections are highest for Sura.. like WTH. And Dasavatharam the topmost-> I remember how much you trashed that movie.
Kuselan second.. well- nonsense.
Singam was a universal mass-hit., and its benched somewhere in the middle. No comments on the movie but it was and is blitzing the B.O.
What you really have put up through these figures is proof that the UK audiences are a bunch of bozos.
A more complete picture can be got if we also had the average ticket price for every movie.
And BTW.. watched Raavanan keeping in mind your lukewarm review. I found it decent.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: None of these figures is an indication of how bad or how good the movies is
Do box office figures give you an accurate indication of the quality of a movie all the time?
BO numbers for movies are a function of many variables – marketing, stars, hype, quality, timing, music, word of mouth, buzz et al (for Indian movies where star-power is a key factor, we’re not sure if reviews even matter).
What is indisputable is that Raavan/Raavanan certainly enjoyed enormous hype, big-name stars, a big-name director, a big-name music director, a big-name producer et al and against that backdrop, the BO numbers seem rather weak.
2. As long as we suspect the quality of data from India, we’ll have to rely on UK BO numbers as a proxy.
Remember a few years back, when media reports had it that Kuruvi ‘ran’ for 100 days in some theater(s) in Tamil Nadu and then that shit was hailed as a hit in some circles.
Now, the exhibitors/theater owners in Tamil Nadu claim Vijay’s last six movies were a flop (and Kuruvi obviously was one of the six). So Indian figures are highly suspect.
3. You write: Singam was a universal mass-hit.,
And your basis for the above conclusion?
4. We need an independent, nation-wide body collecting Indian box office data week after week and we don’t have one on a Pan-India basis.
Too many vested interests in India will prevent such a body from taking root. At least for regional language movies.
Things may be a little better for Hindi movies. We’ve seen BO numbers for Hindi movies on an all-India basis. But how accurate are they.
Read reviews for Singam., and boxoffice reports from behindwoods. The guys are pretty good with giving numbers. And I also read other reviews than SI – they all have given pretty good ratings to it. Not to mention I saw it myself.. typical masala movie. Just that Surya might not be able to get away with this again. (Vijay’s mistake)
What I claim is, what’s the point in putting up such irrelevant posts? You trashed Raavan/Raavanan alright. Completely acceptable. But just don’t be amateurish by putting up such posts with irrelevant titles. Because you and I both know you are going to screw yourself by taking out that conclusion.
Also, Dasavatharam was a completely Southie movie. Chances are it got up there (and into more theatres) and not Raavanan, because
-Kamal has a WAY bigger public reach than Vikram.,
-KS Ravikumar and Kamal combo, for that masala entertainer.
-Not everyone watches Mani movies., and not everyone in theatres esp. This one is damn true.
-Entertainment in KSR movie is guaranteed., with Mani- not really. Makes you think.
-Ten roles for Kamal- compared to that pathu thala Raavanan dialogue thingy.
When you have such differences within two movies itself, there is no way you can gauge if this movie (read Raavanan) had to be on top of the Box Office or in the top 2 or 3, or anything.
Aayutha Ezhuthu, Kannathil Muthamittal, Iruvar etc. had a very good star cast but did not really smoke the Box Office. Mani’s movies, really, were never expected to do that. Atleast since 15 years now they have not been like that. I expected something different and I did get something different in Raavanan.
Do not try comparing chalk and cheese. If you look up thats what I did by comparing 10avatharam and Raavanan and it lead me nowhere. You will always find them to be different.
Accept your point that the movie could have been better for the cast. But expectations kill the movie goer’s experience. Period.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write above: What I claim is, what’s the point in putting up such irrelevant posts? You trashed Raavan/Raavanan alright. Completely acceptable. But just don’t be amateurish by putting up such posts with irrelevant titles. Because you and I both know you are going to screw yourself by taking out that conclusion.
In our not-so-humble opinion, Kuruvi is the gold standard of bad Tamil movies.
And if Raavanan can score below Kuruvi, that’s certainly not a good augury.
2. You write: Mani’s movies, really, were never expected to do that.
But with Raavanan, BO expectations were quite high considering the combination of Vikram+ Mani+Ash+ Big Cinemas. Save the resurrection of MGR, things can’t get any bigger.
The same people expected Aayutha Ezhuthu to blitz box office., and it did not.
Let me tell you what you mean through this post. By saying it is worse than Kuruvi, you also open it to being compared with movies lower down on the list. So what you actually tell is, Aayirathil Oruvan was worse compared to Kuruvi 😀 LOL.
On a more serious note, I think you should look into per ticket costs and try giving us figures on how many people actually came in to watch the mentioned movies. A movie’s basic success is the number of people who come to watch it. If you could get your figures on such detailed estimates, I am very well sure you could give us those numbers too. Worth a try.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: Let me tell you what you mean through this post. By saying it is worse than Kuruvi, you also open it to being compared with movies lower down on the list. So what you actually tell is, Aayirathil Oruvan was worse compared to Kuruvi
True, the Law of Unintended Consequences at play here. 😉
But Aayirathil Oruvan did fare OK on an average gross basis (better than Ayan, Asal, Vettaikaran, Paiyaa, Vinaithandi Varuvaaya and Bheema) considering its lesser stars, less-reputed director (vis-a-vis Mani, that is) and the negative buzz about the use of old Tamil, length of film et al.
2. Yes, if we could get our hands on the attendance numbers that’d be the perfect benchmark to compare films. A big if.
BTW, Toy Story 3. I’m amazed you guys have been dozing away(or is a review coming?). Its blitzed into the imdb top 15 in no time. High time man..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Planned to/planning to.
After Raavan/Raavanan, we took the Winter’s Bone detour.
But for the Winter’s Bone side-trip to Philadelphia, we might have seen Toy Story 3. Mihi Rex (a ‘senior’ SI blog reader 😉 suggested it on Friday night/Saturday early morning itself.
No regrets in any case because Winter’s Bone was excellent.
Now, we’re catching up on reading/the Sunday Times et al.
Last week, we had folks from India and didn’t get to read much or do anything else save eating a lot.
We still might watch Toy Story 3 in a day or two although our enthusiasm level goes down with each passing day.
Wonder if Toy Story 3 made it to India?
Its gonna be releasing in India the 25th.. this Friday.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Thanks.
We’ll try to see it before June 25.
Saw Toy Story 3 exactly on the above date. Touched me quite a bit and turned clocks back.. What more can we ask.. Thank Disney for giving Pixar and such wonderful movies! 🙂
Seen How to train your dragon yet? Thats another movie I loved this year.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
How to train your dragon?
No, haven’t seen it.
In the twilight of our life, we’re getting ready for the new Twilight movie coming next week.
Want to see what the hullabaloo is all about vis-a-vis the Twilight flicks that has everyone shrieking and generally going ga-ga. The New York Times had a big piece last Sunday on Robert Pattinson, the star of the Twilight films.
AZHAGIYA TAMIL MAGAN [Tamil film] has debuted at No. 14 position. In its opening weekend, the film has collected £ 95,553 [approx. Rs. 77.78 lacs] on 18 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 5,309.
That’s even better than Kuruvi, but we know that it was a BO disaster.
Sri Lankan Tamils seem to be giving Vijay bumper opening than they do for any other 2nd tier heroes. Probably because of the Pokkiri effect.. Pokkiri’s successors ATM and Kuruvi did very well and things have been downhill for Vijay since then.
Singam did much better than Kuruvi in its second weekend than Kuruvi. VA per screen average was better than Kuruvi in the second weekend. So was VTV’s.
SINGAM [last weekend: No. 21, this weekend: No. 25]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 16,839 on 8 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 2,105. Total: £ 1,04,572 [approx. Rs. 71.36 lacs].
KURUVI [Tamil film; last weekend: No. 15, this weekend: No. 20]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 15,340 on 16 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 959. Total: £ 1,17,707 [approx. Rs. 96.02 lacs].
VAARANAM AAYIRAM [Tamil film; last weekend: No. 16, this weekend: No. 29]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 13,162 on 8 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,645. Total: £ 74,759 [approx. Rs. 56.54 lacs].
VINNAITHAANDI VARUVAAYAA [Tamil film; last weekend: No. 40, this weekend: No. 45]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 12,570 on 4 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 3,143. Total: £ 42,352 [approx. Rs. 28.91 lacs].
All I am saying, although it is nice to look at, is the opening weekend collection in UK box office doesn’t mean much.. We will wait and see how Raavanan does in the second week.
Raavanan may thrive like Dasavathaaram-lite.. people know that the script is not good, but they want to check out the “technical brilliance” that many are raving about.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Now on the non-tangible, immeasurable front, post-Kuruvi the hype machine has moved into overdrive and no film has delivered vis-a-vis the hype. They can’t. Even if the films are good (and they aren’t). Whether it’s being orchestrated behind the scenes by the stars or producers, the super-buildup for the high profile films is back-firing.
Perhaps, for this reason Shankar is maintaining a low profile with Enthiran.
RAVANAN [Tamil film; last weekend: No. 16, this weekend: No. 24]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 14,995 on 15 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,000. Total: £ 1,18,036 [approx. Rs. 82.72 lacs].
Raavanan overtook Kuruvi in the second weekend, BTW.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Thanks.
When we do the new Tamil BO table, perhaps we should include cumulative figures (where available) as well.
Getting out the gate, Raavanan had the advantage of enormous hype.
With Kuruvi, Vijay had the advantage of following a strong Pokiri.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/overseas_boxoffice/324.html is where I go.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
OK.