Ra.One weekend collections break BO records

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New Delhi: Ra.One is certainly not the favourite of the critics, but Shah Rukh Khan, the super hero, seems to be working at the box office.

Shah Rukh Khan's Rs 150-crore magnum opus Ra.One has smashed box-office records with never-before opening weekend collections.

The film, which released worldwide on Diwali, collected Rs 96 crore net in its five-day festive opening weekend at roughly 3,100 screens across India.

Critics may have lashed out against the film's sloppy script, but it didn't stop Ra.One from breaking the record for highest collections in a single day, making an unprecedented Rs 23.5 crores last Thursday alone.

However, it must be noted that Ra.One’s collections reflect revenues from Tamil and Telugu versions of the film in addition to the Hindi version, steep numbers are also thanks to higher ticket prices for the 3D version.

Ending weeks of nail-biting tension over whether Ra.One could beat Bodyguard records, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer registered considerably bigger opening-weekend numbers than Salman Khan's last hit.

Bodyguard, which enjoyed a similar five-day festive opening weekend when it released on Eid in August, was produced on a budget of roughly Rs 85 crore rupees, and arrived on approximately 2700 screens in India.

While Ra.One collected as much as Rs 32.75 crore, Bodyguard was able to collect Rs 27 crore in their respective five-day weekends abroad.

Ra.One may have beaten Bodyguard in the battle for the opening weekend, but question is – will the film's winning streak continue? Will it beat the Rs 300-crore plus worldwide collections of 3 Idiots? That's the true test. That's the big record to break. Answer's out soon.

Record collections worldwide

Since its release, Ra.One has been creating history by shattering regional, national and international box office record after record with the biggest Diwali day opening followed by the biggest single day collections for an Indian film and now the biggest ever weekend release for both India and overseas box office.

Commenting on the opening, Nandu Ahuja, Sr VP, Distribution, Eros International Media Ltd said, "Ra. One released to packed houses across the country on Diwali day and has already created history by taking over the mantle of the biggest domestic earner so far. The film continues to be on its record breaking spree with several new achievements since its release. It has touched the highest individual collection in circuits such as Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan. We see repeat viewings of the movie with the 3-D version being equally sought after. With the Eid holiday also coming up next week and no other major film release; we are anticipating the film to continue doing huge numbers".

The international exposure of Ra.One will continue to grow in the coming months as Eros International continues to take the film to more and more countries. The film is scheduled for theatrical release in the first quarter of 2012 across several territories including South Korea, Hong Kong , Taiwan , Russia , Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Palestine , Brazil , Spain, Italy and Greece .

Ra.One is Shah Rukh Khan's most ambitious project to date directed by Anubhav Sinha starring King Khan himself as G.One along with Arjun Rampal as Ra.One and Kareena Kapoor. The film's visual effects and state of the art production techniques have set a new standard in Indian film. All this, combined with a widely acclaimed soundtrack produced by Vishal & Shekhar and featuring Grammy award nominee Akon, have made Ra.One a must see film.

For Eros, the success of Ra.One is part of its ongoing slate of film releases. In the current financial year it expects to release over 70 Indian films with high profile releases to date including Ready, Murder 2, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Mausam. The line-up for the remainder of the financial year continues to look very attractive with three major releases still to come – Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar, Rohit Dhawan's Desi Boyz and Shriram Raghavan’s Agent Vinod.

(With Additional Inputs from Moneycontrol)

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