Ranveer Singh is the star of the Rohit Shetty comedy Cirkus, which has a sluggish start at the Indian box office, reporting collections of Rs 6.25 crore. The comedy of errors had poor occupancy in theatres the entire day, with first-day estimates for revenue in the range of Rs. 6.25 to 7.00 crore. Cirkus debuted with almost 10,000 performances on its first day. It only maintained a low occupancy rate of 12 percent throughout the day. This is significantly below the consensus predictions.
PVR, Inox, and Cinepolis, the three national chains, have raked in about Rs 3.20 crore, or about 50% of the overall business. The two other chains, Inox & Cinepolis, have brought in about Rs 1.70 crore, compared to PVR's nett total of Rs 1.50 crore. The Gujarat region has produced the most shocking results. Rohit Shetty films typically perform well in Gujarat. And the market is also known to reward comic flicks with strong box office results.
The pricing was blockbuster level, thus the attendance is much smaller than the statistics suggest. It would be interesting to see if the movie can capitalise on the holiday season during its run. This is because of the fact that it opened during the festive week of Christmas. Over the course of the year, Hindi films have struggled to capitalise on the lucrative holiday windows. These windows surround Eid, Independence Day, and Diwali. And the debut of Cirkus portends a lacklustre Christmas as well. A Rohit Shetty comedy starring Ranveer Singh and the complete ensemble surely merited a far better start on simply the face value. The lacklustre opening also suggests that the Cirkus trailer failed to thrill the public.
Cirkus might have a chance to record some face-saving stats if sales increase on Saturday and Sunday. This followed by a Monday equal to Friday can pad the numbers. However, this seems improbable because the on-the-ground report on the content is subpar. On its first day, the movie sold almost 3 lakh tickets nationwide. Cirkus is proving to be one of Rohit Shetty's few failures. And this has enabled everyone who has been waiting in the shadows for the last 15 years for him to falter. This will give them an opportunity to come out and express themselves. But it's obvious that Singham Again will help him recover.
