This year two films based on real-life events dominated the box office with rave reviews and good theatrical income. Akshay Kumar's "Airlift" and Sonam Kapoor's "Neerja" are the only two films that have performed exceptionally well at the box office until now.
Neerja
Ram Madhvani's directorial film "Neerja," which recorded the third highest opening weekend box office collection, passed the first weekday test successfully. The business of "Neerja" went down by just 22 percent Monday. After a strong fourth-day at the box office, "Neerja" box office collection stands at Rs 25.71 crore.
"#Neerja Fri 4.70 cr, Sat 7.60 cr, Sun 9.71 cr, Mon 3.70 cr. Total: ₹ 25.71 cr. India biz. EXCELLENT!" trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted, adding: "#Neerja passes crucial 'Monday test'. Remained STRONG. Film holding very well at metros/plexes. Should maintain the pace on weekdays..."
The net domestic box office collection of the Sonam-starrer is Rs 25.71 crore, while the gross worldwide collection is Rs 47.34 crore. "Neerja" should ideally cross the Rs 50 crore mark at the worldwide box office by its fifth day.
Meanwhile, the US-Canada and UAE-GCC box office contributed the highest income in the overseas earnings, while the others were average, Bollywood Hungama reports. In its opening weekend, "Neerja" minted Rs 4.25 crore from the US-Canada region. UAE-GCC recorded Rs 3.94 crore, UK-Ireland Rs 1.01 crore, Australia Rs 57 lakh, New Zealand Rs 2 lakh, Malaysia Rs 3 lakh and rest of the world witnessed a figure of Rs 79 lakh.
"Neerja" is a real-life story of flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, who saved the lives of passengers of a hijacked Pan Am flight 73 on Sep. 5, 1986.
Airlift
Akshay's film "Airlift" box office run has come to an end worldwide. The film, which is also based on a true event, minted Rs 225.85 crore gross income from the worldwide box office in its lifetime run, Bollywood Hungama reports.
"Airlift," directed by Raja Menon, did well in India as well internationally during its four-week of theatrical run. The Akshay-starrer is the first superhit film of 2016 and now "Neerja" is set to join the club.
[1 lakh = 100,000 | 1 crore = 10 million | 100 crore = 1 billion]
