Subhash K Jha (DNA; January 1, 2016)

It looks like the ‘Force’ has not awakened fully in these parts. The latest instalment of the Star Wars franchise has performed disappointingly at the Indian box-office. Though Star Wars: The Force Awakens has crossed the billion-dollar mark worldwide, in India the film was out-performed by the two Hindi films this season, Rohit Shetty’s Dilwale and Sanjay Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani.

Says a reliable source from a leading multiplex chain, “Star Wars has definitely not been up to the mark. Disney thought the film would be a craze and released 1,200 prints across the country. This was a big mistake. We had no more occupancy than 50-55 percent.”

Says another source from another multiplex, “The film has only managed to make Rs 14-15 crores at the box-office this weekend including all languages. This is far behind the first weekend collection of big Hollywood franchise movies this year like Fast & Furious 7, which collected around Rs 70 crores during the first weekend, Avengers which did approximately Rs 48 crores during the opening weekend and Jurassic World which crossed Rs 49 crores in the opening weekend.”

Anand Vishal, Head of Sales at Inox, says, “The collections of Star Wars are just about okay. It is below expectations.”

When asked to share box office figures of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney India did not revert.