10. The Box, $3.2 million

The youth has taken to Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani in a big way and the first weekend numbers of the film should be incredible. It's easily Ranbir Kapoor's biggest opener to date and catapults him to the 'Prime Club'. Besides, the Ranbir - Katrina jodi seems to be the new flavour of the season. Rajkumar Santoshi too has bounced back with renewed vigour, while Ramesh Taurani, its producer, has yet another Hit to his credit. On the other hand, Jail has been sidelined due to the Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani wave. The film carries favourable reports, so let's hope its numbers shows a jump in the coming days.

* London Dreams has debuted at No. 19 position. In its opening weekend, the film has collected Aus. $ 42,680 [approx. Rs. 18.03 lacs] on 12 screens, with the per screen average working out to Aus. $ 3,557.

Aladin had one of the lowest starts, garnering a 10% opening at several screens. Both London Dreams and Aladin are expensive films and with next Friday films Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Jail carrying a strong buzz, it will be interesting to see how well these films perform over the next few days.

The Ajay Devgn-Salman Khan starrer “London Dreams” and Amitabh Bachchan starrer “Aladin” have failed to send the cash registers ringing in the first week of their release.

Despite being big budget outings, both movies have failed to bring in footfalls. This is the third week in succession post Diwali that saw the release of disappointing content after movies like “Blue”, “All The Best – Fun Begins” and “Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna”.

“‘London Dreams’ and ‘Aladin’ both have been losers in terms of recovering production costs. They don’t seem to be recovering even half of the costs. It is again a bad phase for Bollywood – this time post-Diwali, as no movie is able to perform on merit,” Joginder Mahajan, a Delhi-based distributor told IANS.

“Even forthcoming movies ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani’ and ‘Jail’ that release this Friday, are only limited for multiplexes and have not generated any buzz,” he added.

Amit Shah, chief manager (programming) of DLF DT cinemas was also of the same opinion.

“‘Aladin’ has been a disaster both content and collections wise while the maximum response has been for ‘London Dreams’ though even it has been only average and not as expected. Both movies are over now in terms of business, as they have brought in whatever they could over an extended weekend,” said Shah.

“Now, much is expected from ‘Ajab Prem Ki…’ though ‘Jail’ will start slow but considering it’s a Madhur Bhandarkar film, it just might pick up,” he added.

Produced and directed by Vipul Shah, “London Dreams” stars Asin Thottumkal as the female lead. Rannvijay Singh and Om Puri too feature in pivotal roles about the story of friendship with a musical background.

On the other hand, “Aladin”, a contemporary take on the classic fairy tale has been directed by Sujoy Ghosh and produced by Sunil Lulla and Ghosh himself.

It stars Riteish Deshmukh in the lead opposite debutante Jacqueline Fernandez. Amitabh Bachchan stars as a genie in the movie while Sanjay Dutt essays a negative role.

“‘Aladin’ is a flop film and ‘London Dreams’ has done just average business… We are hoping ‘Ajab Prem…’ should open well, as it is a family oriented comedy while ‘Jail’ has its own audience,” said a source from PVR cinemas.

* Blue [last weekend: No. 11, this weekend: No. 12]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 80,590 on 51 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,580. Total: £ 3,78,236 [approx. Rs. 2.91 crores].

* Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna [last weekend: No. 14, this weekend: No. 16]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 39,715 on 27 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,471. Total: £ 1,83,743 [approx. Rs. 1.41 crores].

* Aadhavan [Tamil film; last weekend: No. 16, this weekend: No. 21]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 25,798 on 10 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 2,580. Total: £ 1,09,560 [approx. Rs. 84.36 lacs].

* All The Best [last weekend: No. 21, this weekend: No. 22]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 21,265 on 15 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,418. Total: £ 86,934 [approx. Rs. 66.95 lacs].

* Peeranmai [Tamil film; last weekend: No. 44, this weekend: No. 38]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 4,879 on 4 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,220. Total: £ 14,522 [approx. Rs. 11.19 lacs].

* Dil Bole Hadippa [last weekend: No. 61, this weekend: No. 52]: In its sixth weekend, the film has collected £ 1,655 on 1 screen. Total: £ 5,30,152 [approx. Rs. 4.08 crores].

* Do Knot Disturb [last weekend: No. 59, this weekend: No. 53]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected £ 1,191 on 10 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 119. Total: £ 1,69,330 [approx. Rs. 1.30 crores].

* Wake Up Sid [last weekend: No. 34, this weekend: No. 55]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected £ 1,103 on 4 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 276. Total: £ 2,50,067 [approx. Rs. 1.93 crores].

U.S.A. BOX-OFFICE

* Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna [last weekend: No. 37, this weekend: No. 57]: In its second weekend, the film has collected $ 36,549 on 34 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 1,075. Total: $ 1,84,952 [approx. Rs. 86.85 lacs].

* Wake Up Sid [last weekend: No. 61, this weekend: No. 66]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected $ 18,976 on 18 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 1,054. Total: $ 7,10,487 [approx. Rs. 3.34 crores].

The flow of biggies begins from next week onwards, with two big-budget ventures, Aladin and London Dreams, vying for audience attention. A lot of hopes are pinned on these two films. Meanwhile, the absence of any big film this Friday took a toll on business everywhere. The business, expectedly, remained low-key.

Here's some piping hot news, straight for you..

* Mohit Suri's next project, after RAAZ, deals with racial discrimination. Starring Emraan Hashmi in the lead, the film is called COLOURS.

* Sujoy Ghosh was supposed to start BORIVALI before ALADIN. But, according to the director, he won't be making the film anymore. "I've already handed over the script of the film to a friend," Sujoy says.

* Two Akshay Kumar starrers are expected to arrive in the same month. Reportedly, Vipul Shah's ACTION REPLAY is confirmed for 9th April, while Sajid Nadiadwala's HOUSEFULL is confirmed for 30th April.

* Salman Khan's VEER, directed by Anil Sharma, is almost complete. "We will wrap the entire shooting by 5th/6th November. Right now, we are looking at releasing the film in January - it could be 22nd or 29th January," Anil Sharma confirmed to this writer.

* One of the keenly-awaited films was supposed to release in the first quarter of 2010, but the release has been shifted to April 2010.

The much-awaited and much-hyped movies “Blue” and “All The Best” that released Friday on Diwali eve have set the cash registers ringing while co-release “Main Aurr Mrs.Khanna” has proven to be a damp squib. The contents of all three films has, however, been panned in general by both audiences and critics.

“The content for all the three movies is not worth it. It’s just because of the buzz that the three got a good initial with ‘Blue’ going strong at 80 percent followed by ‘All The Best’ and ‘Main Aurr Mrs.Khanna’ at 50 and 30 perecent respectively,” Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas at Noida, told IANS.

“The housefulls though have been only for ‘Blue’. The films will now see a major fall, as the advance booking is already over and it is only the current sale now,” he added.

Yogesh Raizada, corporate head, Wave Cinemas, echoed the same, saying: “All three movies have seen an initial close to 95 percent. While ‘Blue’ is on top because of the stunts and glamour, ‘All The Best’ brought audiences for its comedy quotient. ‘Main Aurr…’ is just a simple love story. The hype is now almost over and audiences are not going to watch more than one movie a week.”

Directorial debut of Anthony D’Souza, “Blue” was extensively promoted as the country’s first underwater film and the most expensive too with an approximate budget of around Rs.80 crore. The film has managed to bag around Rs.51 crore gross in its opening weekend.

Produced by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd, it stars Askhay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutta and Zayed Khan. Katrina Kaif along with Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue appear in a cameo in the film.

“All The Best”, on the other hand, is a comedy directed by Rohit Shetty and stars Ajay Devgn, Bipasha Basu, Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, and Mugdha Godse. Made at a budget of around Rs.40 crore, the film is produced by Ajay and released with around 1250 prints worldwide. It has brought in close to Rs.10 crore net.

“Main Aurr Mrs.Khanna” is a co-production of Sohail Khan Productions and Ronnie Screwvala and distributed by UTV Motion Pictures. Made at a budget of around Rs.40 crore, it released with around 1,200 prints worldwide but could make only Rs.4 crore net.

Helmed by debutant director Prem Soni, the romantic drama stars Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead with Sohail in a pivotal role.

PVR Cinemas that also distributed “Blue” in North India is still keeping fingers crossed for the movie.

“The reactions for all three have been very encouraging but the crowd for ‘Blue’ was terrific. People came in hordes for the movie and we are hoping it to still go strong,” said a source from the multiplex chain.

An insider from Movietime cinemas, Pitampura, added: “All our shows are going jam packed for ‘Blue’ even today. ‘All The Best’ is also going strong but ‘Main Aurr…’ is not going down too well with senior citizens and middle aged group.”

The three movies still have an extra week, as the following week is low on buzz with films like “Bal Ganesh 2″ and “Fruit & Nut” before the succeeding week rolls out another of the two much-awaited projects “Aladin” and “London Dreams” Oct 30.

With no major release last week, the international markets didn't witness any drastic fall in business. WAKE UP SID held well, while DO KNOT DISTURB remained on the lower side. All eyes are on the Diwali releases and the international business should also show a big jump in revenue next weekend.

Weekend: October 9 - 11, 2009.

U.K. BOX-OFFICE

* WAKE UP SID [last weekend: No. 15, this weekend: No. 14]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 64,295 on 35 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,837. Total: £ 2,12,922 [approx. Rs. 1.55 crores].

* DO KNOT DISTURB [last weekend: No. 19, this weekend: No. 20]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 33,870 on 24 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,411. Total: £ 1,49,101 [approx. Rs. 1.08 crores].

* DIL BOLE HADIPPA [last weekend: No. 22, this weekend: No. 26]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected £ 20,767 on 21 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 989. Total: £ 5,17,504 [approx. Rs. 3.76 crores].

* WHAT'S YOUR RAASHEE? [last weekend: No. 34, this weekend: No. 57]: In its third weekend, the film has collected £ 2,725 on 5 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 545. Total: £ 1,07,281 [approx. Rs. 77.98 lacs].

* WANTED [last weekend: No. 43, this weekend: No. 63]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected £ 2,038 on 4 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 510. Total: £ 2,08,891 [approx. Rs. 1.52 crores].

* LIFE PARTNER [last weekend: No. --, this weekend: No. 75]: In its ninth weekend, the film has collected £ 693 on 1 screen. Total: £ 2,85,858 [approx. Rs. 2.08 crores].

U.S.A. BOX-OFFICE

* WAKE UP SID [last weekend: No. 25, this weekend: No. 32]: In its second weekend, the film has collected $ 1,96,352 on 76 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 2,584. Total: $ 6,11,574 [approx. Rs. 2.82 crores].

* DO KNOT DISTURB [last weekend: No. 41, this weekend: No. 52]: In its second weekend, the film has collected $ 58,711 on 42 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 1,398. Total: $ 2,13,525 [approx. Rs. 98.53 lacs].

* WHAT'S YOUR RAASHEE? [last weekend: No. 57, this weekend: No. 74]: In its third weekend, the film has collected $ 9,510 on 14 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 679. Total: $ 2,54,114 [approx. Rs. 1.18 crores].

Blue is witnessing a grand opening in Chennai Box Office; pushing back Vijay’s ‘Vettaikaran’, it is expected to have a big opening this Diwali.

With A.R. Rahman’s chartbuster music, the film is already a sold out among music aficionados who are eagerly looking forward to see the Academy Award winning duo of A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty recreate magic after Slumdog Millionaire.

Booking plans that opened up this morning saw the tickets being lapped-up within few minutes. According to the trade reports, ‘BLUE’ is getting screened across 8 theatres in Chennai alone. It’s noteworthy that even the films of Shahrukh and Aamir Khan hadn’t opened up in so many centers.

Apparently, the film is hitting screens a day prior to Tamil Diwali releases: ‘Aadhavan’ and ‘Peranmai’. BLUE features Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan, and Katrina Kaif in lead roles with academy award winners A.R. Rahman scoring music and Resul Pookutty working on sound mixing.

Wake Up Sid is about a lazy, carefree guy, whose life changed after meeting an aspiring writer from Kolkata. Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma play the lead roles in this film produced by Karan Johar and directed by Ayan Mukerji.

Watch out for Wake Up Sid! It is set to turn a big, as it is still going strong at the box office!