There is evidently a new box office pattern emerging for smaller films mostly those without a major male star headlining the poster. They seem to have an audience that doesn't rush to theatres on Friday, but shows up slowly and steadily over the weekend. Remember Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway? Or 12th Fail? Or even Laapataa Ladies? All of them had significant pre-release hype driven by strong publicity material. Yet their Friday numbers did not quite live up to expectations. This week's release, ASSI, seems to have all the same ingredients massive intrigue, a wide and innovative audience outreach strategy, even penetrating B centres that are usually considered non-viable for such films. Like the films mentioned above, ASSI underperformed on Friday.
When we spoke to exhibitors across circuits, they had no concrete answers. "The word of mouth is great and so are the reviews. The trailer created so much buzz; we were very hopeful. Let's see tomorrow because everyone walking out says, 'This is a must-watch,'" an exhibitor said.
Come Saturday, ASSI began seeing footfalls. Even the morning shows registered tremendous growth, and the momentum continues to build. Going by the trend, the film is expected to witness potential growth of nearly 200% on Saturday. If that holds, ASSI, by the end of Saturday, will be following a trajectory similar to Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway, 12th Fail, Srikanth, and Laapataa Ladies. This could well mark the beginning of a shift in how we evaluate the economics and performance of smaller films. Perhaps they were never meant to be measured in the same bracket as big-ticket releases mounted at five to ten times the budget, with promotional spends often matching the entire cost of such films.
Gulshan Kumar and T-Series present ASSI, a Benaras Mediaworks Production, directed by Anubhav Sinha and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, and Anubhav Sinha.
The film is now in cinemas.
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