Sucheta Dalal :Wake Up Sid gets 80% occupancy during opening weekend
Sucheta Dalal

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Wake Up Sid gets 80% occupancy during opening weekend  

October 8, 2009

 

Wake Up Sid, a romantic comedy film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkana Sen Sharma has attracted 80% occupancy during the weekend, courtesy, rains and an apology from producer Karan Johar over the use of Bombay instead of Mumbai in the film.
 
The movie produced by Dharma Productions and distributed worldwide by UTV Motion Pictures, was able to garner Rs215 million over the weekend. Directed by Ayaan Mukherjee, the movie was produced with a budget of Rs150 million.
 
The film had faced protests from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Friday for having used 'Bombay' instead of 'Mumbai'. The incident sent Karan Johar rushing to MNS chief Raj Thackeray to tender an unconditional apology.
 
"The movie is doing great with 80% occupancy in the metros on the weekend. We even had around 65% occupancy on Monday, which is very good for any movie," said Shunali Shroff, head, corporate communications, Fame Multiplexes.
 
During the weekend, there were only two Hindi movies released, Wake Up Sid and Do Knot Disturb which has Govinda in the lead role. While Wake Up Sid was released in 420 theatres across the country, Do Knot Disturb was released in about 800 theatres. The Govinda starrer, however, was able to garner only Rs110 million over the weekend.
 
In the previous week, the much awaited What’s Your Rashi was released, but viewers were disappointed with its length (over four hours) and some 13 songs. This also seems to have helped Wake Up Sid to woo viewers during the weekend.
 
"Over the weekend Wake Up Sid proved to be a very strong movie because of its good direction and production. We got 70%-80% occupancy all over India in our 26 theatres and on Monday there was a 25% fall. For Do Knot Disturb we had an average 40% occupancy during the weekend," said Pramod Arora, president and chief executive, PVR.
 
Wake Up Sid also did good business overseas during the weekend. UTV Motion Pictures had a tie-up with STAR Middle East as media partner for the promotional activity of the movie overseas which resulted in good business for the movie internationally, said an official from UTV Motion Pictures, distributors of the film.
 
The movie collected about $165,934 in the UK while for the US the collections were $355,532. In the Gulf region also the film’s per print average was $9,575. –Pallabika Ganguly [email protected]

-- Sucheta Dalal