The WOM in this case is classic negative/cold, and the 75% decline (in comparison to Sunday) was a glaring example of the same.
Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan, was released into a less-than-ideal environment, largely due to the marketing strategy its creators employed. The film’s pre-release hype was not commensurate with its quality. When the film didn’t receive the expected opening, it became increasingly evident that it wasn’t a YRF picture.
However, because it was a long weekend and released during the Republic Day holiday, it saw a decent jump until Sunday. The industry was rocked by what happened on Monday because it was a crash. Crash, not drop!
Following a massive Sunday revenue of 30.20 crores, Monday’s revenue of just 7.50 crores suggested that the film’s word-of-mouth (WOM) wasn’t genuinely trending in the positive direction as previously anticipated. This is a classic example of negative or cold word-of-mouth, and the 75% decline (in comparison to Sunday) was a glaring example of it.
On the fourth day of its release, even Adipurush experienced a drop in ticket sales of 77%. Following a third-day collection of 38.25 crores, it had fallen to 8.50 crores.
Here is Hrithik Roshan’s Fighter’s day-by-day collection
Thursday: 24.60 crores.
On Friday: 41.20 billion
27.60 crores on Saturday
On Sunday, 30.20 million
7.50 crores on Monday
Based on preliminary data, the movie has declined even more, taking in between 5.50 and 6.50 crores on its sixth day of release. This will bring the movie’s total to between 136.60 and 137.60 crores, which is less than the producers may have anticipated following such an incredible weekend.
In his Fighter movie review, our in-house critic Umesh Punwani discussed the director’s approach to the picture, noting that Siddharth Anand has taken the adage if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it too seriously, but he’ll soon have to also consider the DMU (Diminishing Marginal Utility). Not every movie would be like War, and not every star could carry a film like Shah Rukh Khan could.
