Mumbai: The trade circuit lowered its combined box-office expectations from Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 to Rs. 500-600 crore from Rs. 1,000-1,100 crore, following unfavourable word-of-mouth publicity over the past four days and a dip in collections.

Film distributor and trade analyst Shaaminder Malik said that while successful big-budget films usually see a 15-20% drop on Monday before regaining momentum, both films have seen a steady decline in collections since Sunday.

"Expectations for these two films are limited now," he said. According to early reports from Sacnilk, the Diwali releases Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 have seen a steady decline in box-office collections over the past six days. Both films opened strongly, earning about Rs. 43.5 crore and Rs. 35.5 crore, respectively on Friday. However, by Sunday, collections had dipped to about Rs. 35.75 crore and Rs. 33.5 crore. The downward trend continued, with the films' earnings dropping to about Rs. 10.25 crore and Rs. 10.5 crore by Wednesday.

"Generally speaking, if word-of-mouth recommendations of big films are positive, then their collections progressively improve during a week. Since the word-of-mouth recommendations of both these are a mixed bag, their collections began to decline from Sunday itself," said Girish Wankhede, a film trade analyst.

He added, "Ultimately, it boils down to content. The content of both films is not appreciated well. There is no repeat value in these films. Even the music in both films lacks depth. Neither of the two films has found takers among audiences, which is reflected in their falling collections."

A section of exhibitors is of the view that the collections at the end of the second week of the release of these two films will be crucial in gauging how they will perform in the coming weeks.

Devang Sampat, managing director at Cinepolis India, said, "I believe the true test of these films will be the second week. Both films are working well right now. I believe that both films have surpassed the box office numbers of their previous franchise films."

According to Sacnilk, Singham Again collected Rs. 164.2 crore in the first six days of its release, while Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 collected Rs. 148.7 crore.