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Hum Saath Crosses $ 2.5 m Mark Abroad

Aseem Chhabra in New York

With healthy continuing business in the United Kingdom and North America, Rajshri Production's Hum Saath-Saath Hain has crossed the $ 2.5 million mark.

According to Hollywood trade publication Daily Variety, the movie has, in its first 24 days of release since November 5, has grossed $ 1,780,000.

Last weekend the film was ranked number 38 among all the films showing in the US and Canada, down from the number 25 position the previous weekend. In England, where it made about $ 80,000 last weekend, it was No 12, with a total gross of about $ 700,000.

Eros Entertainment, the film's distributor in North America, continues to show the film on 58 screens, the largest ever number for a Bollywood film. But in many theaters, the movie is sharing the screens with Eros's stablemate, Dillagi.

During the November 26 to 28 Thanksgiving weekend the film's gross receipts of $ 137,000 were 47 per cent down from the previous weekend. The Thanksgiving weekend is normally one of the biggest for the success of Hollywood films. The big Hollywood holiday releases such as Toy Story 2, which grossed a mammoth $ 81 million in five days, clearly drew audiences away from films including Hum Saath that have been running for several weeks.

The other major Bollywood film in the market, Sunny Deol's Dillagi, also released by Eros Entertainment, did moderate business this weekend. The film grossed $ 94,000 and was ranked number 47 in the films showing in North America. Currently, Dillagi is showing on 36 screens.

In its first 10 days of release the film, starring Deol, his brother Bobby and Urmila Matondkar, has grossed $ 333,000. In the opening weekend, Dillagi grossed $ 179,000 and was ranked number 30 in Daily Variety's listing of the top 60 films in North America.

On November 24, the Worldwide Entertainment Group in Guttenberg, NJ, released a new Bollywood film, Khoobsurat, starring Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar, on 24 screens in North America. WEG has still not released its box-office gross. This is Urmila Matondkar's third film this season, after Mast and Dillagi.

This coming Friday, December 3, Video Sound will release Govind Nihalani's Thakshak on about 30 screens in North America. The film's music is composed by A R Rahman and it stars Ajay Devgun and Tabu. Video Sound scored a big hit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, which grossed approximately $ 1.3 million in North America.

A spokesperson for Video Sound, Lal Dadlaney said that he was very optimistic of Thakshak's success. He said Rahman's music should draw the audiences into theaters.

In the United Kingdom, Manoj Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense finally relinquished it's place to The World Is Not Enough, which grabbed $ 10 million in three days. And yet, despite the powerful competition, Sense grossed about $ 3.2 million, with its total reaching $ 22 million. With about $ 145 million grossed abroad and $ 270 million in the United States, the film became the 30th film to pass $ 400 million globally. The movie has grossed about $ 17 million in Italy, $ 11 million in Brazil and $ 9 million in Mexico. It is yet to open in such major territories as Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain.

Arthur J Pais contributed to this story.

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