Many may argue that Mowgli and his adventures will not pose too much of a threat to the Yash Raj film. But don’t forget that Hollywood releases have slowly started eating into Bollywood’s share. Last year too, Fast & Furious 7 and Avengers: The Age Of Ultron made more money than many of its desi counterparts.
Not to forget, the films in question are releasing in April when summer holidays would have just kicked off. In such a scenario, The Jungle Book might just find favour among the kids.
Trade experts are looking forward to this exam that SRK will face in the holiday season.
Saurav Saxena (COO, Carnival Cinemas) feels both the films have their own advantages – Fan will showcase SRK in a different avatar and The Jungle Book has nostalgic value attached to it.
“Fan will have a good opening courtesy SRK. As far as The Jungle Book is concerned, who doesn’t remember Mowgli? All of us have grown up watching it. So kids are likely to throng the theatres to watch their childhood hero. If it’s a question of who enters the 100-crore club, then we can expect that with Fan but not The Jungle Book. The Hollywood film will rake in more moolah if it is dubbed in other regional languages as well,” he explains.
Theatre owner Manoj Desai who owns Gaiety, Galaxy and Marathi Mandir, says, “We will have to wait and watch who wins in the end. SRK’s fans will obviously watch Fan whereas children will make their parents take them to The Jungle Book. So both films will have a loyal audience. Which film enjoys a better opening is not the real question here.”
Distributor Rajesh Thadani is certain that despite the films belonging to different genres, they will definitely eat into each other’s business. “It’s a fundamental rule. If 2 films release on the same day, the business is very likely to be affected,” he says.
However, Taran Adarsh feels Shah Rukh has no reason to fret. He dismisses any talks of a clash saying, “Fan will not face competition. An Indian cine-goer’s first choice will always be a Hindi film, not a foreign film.”
Image Source: facebook/IamSRK/DisneyJungleBook