Box office: 'X-Men: Apocalypse' trumps over 'Sarbjit'

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Sarbjit

The last two Fridays were being considered prosperous times for exhibitors with two highly anticipated biopics lined up for release back-to-back. However, 'Azhar' bit the dust and now, 'Sarbjit' has suffered the same fate. The film failed to reap the benefit of being a solo Bollywood release and made just Rs 13.96 crore in its opening weekend.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in 'Sarbjit'

With this, the Randeep Hooda and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-starrer fell behind other damp squibs of the year including 'Fitoor' (Rs 14.11 crore) and 'Rocky Handsome' (Rs 16.12 crore). The first day was exceptionally dismal - Rs 3.69 crore, and there were unconfirmed reports about several shows being cancelled in Tier II cities for the want of audience. In fact, 'X-Men Apocalypse', the big Hollywood release of last Friday, fared better than 'Sarbjit' with a collection of Rs 16.21 crore.

X-Men Apocalypse

Trade guru Amod Mehra says, "It was well publicised film starring a biggie like Ash, but it failed to lure the audience. Collections improved over the weekend, but the film will have to remain stable henceforth, or else it will end up losing a lot."

Trade pundit Taran Adarsh says, "The film had positive trending over the weekend. However, it needs to hold its own on weekdays to reach a good total."

BO stats
Rs 13.96 crore
'Sarbjit' (opening weekend)

Ra 16.21 crore
'X-Men Apocalypse' (opening weekend)