Akshay Kumar is bracing up for his new release titled Selfie. The film stars Emraan Hashmi, Nushrratt Bharuccha, and Diana Penty and is set to hit the theaters on Friday, February 24. Trade experts have analysed that the film will enjoy an opening collection of ₹4 to 5 crore. If the estimates are proved to be correct then it will weigh as the lowest opener for Akshay Kumar in over a decade.
Selfiee is helmed by Raj Mehta and is the Hindi remake of the original Malayalam film Driving License. The original film starred Prithviraj and Suraj Venjaramoodu in the pivotal roles.
Producer and film business analyst Girish Johar estimated that a ₹4-5 crore opening for the film will be favourable and spoke to Hindustan Times saying that the film is fairly good and can excel through word-of-mouth in the second half of the opening day. “Given Akshay and Emraan’s fan following, and the fact that Pathaan has been running for a while now, the film should have a decent start. Also, Shehzada and Antman and the Wasp Quantumania have had mixed reactions, so it is pretty much open for Selfiee right now. I hope the audience accepts the content,” he said.
Trade expert Atul Mohan mentioned, “The buzz is very low, it is almost non-existent and the advance bookings have also not been too good. The one good thing is that they have kept the ticket prices pretty low – the first-day shows are mostly priced at ₹120-140. Their plan is to increase the rates over the weekend, roughly 20% per day. The screens are also fewer, so I expect a ₹4-5 crore day-one collection. Also, if all works well, Selfiee may wrap the weekend at ₹15 crore or so.”
Atul further said, “If things work well, in favour of the film then it may even make it to ₹20 crore for the three-day collections. But, given the limited release, I think even the makers are not too hopeful. If they felt the film was genuinely good, they would have gone for an aggressive, wider release. Somewhere, they must have realised this is the potential of the film.”
Atul added, “Let us hope it works. The last film (Shehzada) did not work well and if this one does not either, people will start talking about how something is not right with Bollywood. It is also really important for the lead actors that the film works.”
On the other hand, film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi estimated that Selfiee is expected to reach ₹6-7 crore opening on the first day. “The film has two mass stars (Akshay and Emraan) but the premise and story of Selfiee is very niche. It is not the kind that is expected to open with ballistic collections, it will hopefully grow with the word-of-mouth and reviews.”
Expressing his hope towards the growth of film through word-of-mouth and reviews, Akshaye averred, “The weekend should be anything around ₹25-30, if everything works in favour.”
Last year, Akshay Kumar witnessed a sudden dip in collection, his opening films minted only ₹9 and ₹10 crore respectively, Raksha Bandhan and Samrat Prithviraj which proved to be the worst performing the box office.
