Open Sesame it takes more than these magic words for moviemakers to take a stunning start at the box office. But if content is king, why are these first three days so crucial?

Open Sesame it takes more than these magic words for moviemakers to take a stunning start at the box office. But if content is king, why are these first three days so crucial?u00a0u00a0

Akshay Kumar might have been trying to serenade the box office or mend his broken bank account when he sang in De Dana Dan, 'Kyun paisa paisa karti hain, kyon paise pe tu marti hain?' Because he knew, as does all of Bollywood, that money matters. And it's not just any money but quick money at the box office that decides the fate of your film. Is it any wonder then that the Rs 35-crore 3 Idiots was declared a hit within its opening weekend when it grossed Rs 97 crore worldwide? How important really are the first few days after the release of a film? If industry watchers are to be believed, it's pretty big.u00a0

Opening is essential
A film faces contest from movies releasing with it, from those that precede or follow it and from other forms of media. A slew of Hollywood films are also seen as competition. Piracy too, eats into a huge chunk of a film's revenue. So where a film gets to prove itself is in its opening weekend. Bollywood movies have to make an impact and try to recover their costs within the first three days of their release.

Vinod Mirani, managing editor of the magazine Box Office India, says, "If you don't get an opening, you are finished. Unlike before, movies don't get time to settle down. In the first week, distributors have to make their money. Even if the film picks up afterwards, the major share goes to multiplexes. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani got a good opening and went on to do business for five weeks. The same actor came with another film (Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year), a few weeks later, that didn't do well."

A film is believed to do 50-60 per cent of its business in the opening weekend and then taper after that. Director Kabir Khan, whose New York was a relatively smaller budget film and was one of 2009's few hits, says, "The opening weekend has become very important because there are so many films. If you're not doing well, multiplexes move your film. I think what worked for New York was that the trailer showed exactly what we were showing in the film. It was a good ensemble cast with the fresh pairing of John (Abraham) and Katrina (Kaif).

"It also came at a time when audiences were starved for a film (after the multiplex strike). I think it was word of mouth that helped us tide over a giant film like Kambakkht Ishq (that released just after New York) and run for weeks."

Budget wiseu00a0
Since money is the topic of discussion, the budget in which the film is made and then sold to distributors plays an important role. Aman Gill, director, domestic distribution with Studio 18 says, "It's the budget of the movie that fails and not the film itself. Kambakkht Ishq and Blue are both considered failures. If Kambakkht Ishq was priced at 20 crores, it would not have fared so badly." Movies made on a large scale with massive budgets, most of which go towards paying the superstar, have more to lose if they don't open with a bang. Films like Kambakkht Ishq and Blue might have got a good opening, but it wasn't enough to recover costs. Negative word of mouth opinions deterred many from watching it.

Kabir believes that the movie's budget has a direct bearing on the film's opening weekend. He says that if you make the film with an inflated budget, you are skating on thin ice. "One has to see cost to recovery. What is the cost of acquiring and releasing the film? If you have sold the film for a much higher price and you get only Rs 60 crore back, it just does not work."

Dinesh Raheja, author and film historian who has tracked the box office for years, says that if word of mouth works positively for smaller films, it does the opposite for the larger ones. "It's the big films that can't afford to wait for word of mouth because there is a lot to recover and at a frantic pace."

Smaller films losing out?
With this frantic pace, it seems to be the smaller films that lose out. Audiences are lured with the gloss of heavy star casts dancing at gorgeous locales. Kabir thinks our obsession with opening weekends is hitting smaller films. "The hype around opening weekends and films surviving on those is unfair to smaller films. The way our distribution system is set up, by the time word of mouth for a smaller film gets out, the film is already out of theatres."

Smaller films rely heavily on word of mouth and critics' reviews u2014 that's how films like A Wednesday and Khosla Ka Ghosla fared well. However, for a smaller budget film, the opening needn't be grand. Aman says, "You need a good opening, not a big one. A Wednesday and Dev D fared well for their size and scale, but Jaane Tuu2026 Ya Jaane Na's opening was very big for its size and scale."u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

Then and now
Today though competition is tougher, it's becoming easier for movies to ensure that they get an impactful opening. There are changes now that contribute to this u2014 the number of movie prints released has shot up. Vinod says, "Twenty years ago, 200 prints of a film were distributed. Now there are more than thousand. They want to take in as much as they can." 3 Idiots, rumoured to have the biggest box office opening in history, had 2,000 prints across 40 countries.

The earlier system of gradually releasing films in A, B, C centres has also been done away with. Movies release simultaneously across all centers, making it easier and quicker to recover costs.

The multiplex culture has also affected the way a film makes its money back. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says, "Single screens used to have four shows every day. This multiplied by seven days u2014 that's 28 shows in a week.
In multiplexes, a film like 3 Idiots is having 30 shows a day. That makes it 210 shows in a week. Increased ticket rates also help. They are going in for the kill. So you don't have to run for 25 weeks to recover costs."

Dinesh seconds this, stating, "Shows at 7.30 am were unheard of. The earliest shows were matinee shows at 10 am. There were no 4 pm and 10 pm shows. Now you have the same film running in the same multiplex in two different screens." However, Aman believes that for a film to become a blockbuster hit, it needs both multiplex and single screen audiences. "When both audiences come to watch a film, it becomes a blockbuster. Love Aaj Kal performed in multiplexes and Wanted in single screens. They were hits, but not blockbusters."

What also helps is an aggressive marketing spree that stars whole-heartedly plunge into. This creates pre-opening buzz and builds hype around the movie. The earlier generation of actors didn't time their interviews with their movies, but were available throughout the year.

Dinesh says, "Actors used to not think only in terms of their films. They knew journalists on a first name basis. I spoke to Kamal Amrohi after Raziya Sultana flopped. They didn't ask what purpose the interview would serve after the film had flopped. They gave interviews because they had something to say."

Today, newspapers, television channels, radio stations are bombarded with film news. Earlier, a poster or a full-page ad in a weekly would do the trick, points out Dinesh.

Marketing v/s word of mouth
However, not all believe that innovative marketing gimmicks pay off. Many firmly state that content is king and it is word of mouth that ultimately decides the fate of the film. Aman says, "Word of mouth is the number one factor in carrying the film forward. Marketing plays a role in just the opening. By Saturday, if the word of mouth isn't good, the film fails. Word of mouth worked for Welcome, Singh is Kinng and Golmaal Returns."

Marketing gimmicks like Aamir travelling around India in disguise or the star chopping hair while promoting 2008's hit Ghajini, would not have worked if the films had lacked in content. They would have brought in audiences, but not brought them back like 3 Idiots did.

Movie buff Priya Nair says, "I usually go for paid previews, but otherwise I catch the movie on Friday night.

High ticket prices don't deter me and reviews don't count. I trust the opinion of those who I usually watch movies with. They were raving about 3 Idiots so I had to watch it. I caught 3 Idiots twice within its opening weekend, even though my sister's wedding was around then."

In rare cases, as Taran points out, movies pick up after the opening weekend like Paa did. "I told Abhishek (Bachchan) not to worry as the trend is that people are liking it and the day-wise collections will increase. Everything boils down to content."

Many believe that reviews don't affect the opening weekend. Aman points out, "Critics' opinions don't matter to the box office earnings of a film focused only on entertainment like 3 Idiots, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, All the Best and Golmaal Returns. Their opinion matters with films that make a cinematic point, but are made in the commercial format like Kaminey or Dev D. If Delhi-6 was critically good, then people would have come to watch it."u00a0

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