James Bond provides Quantum of Solace to India

Bhavana Puljal - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
Government bonds are generally seen as safe bets in troubled times. Little wonder then that the Bond called James is providing a Quantum of Solace to the world, India included, amid economic gloom. Several multiplex operators even charged a premium of 10-15 per cent on the ticket price.

The newest Bond flick is the only Hollywood offering to click with Indian movie-buffs this year, if opening weekend numbers are anything to go by. Released a week before its US debut, Daniel Craig's high voltage second outing as 007 raked in Rs 17 crore in India in the first three days.

"Bond movies have a strong franchise in India and have managed to transcend barriers of gender and language. Movie-goers were well aware that the movie was being released in India before the US. Nor was there a big Hindi movie to compete with it during the weekend. So, we actually had as many as 17 shows of the movie running at the same multiplex in Mumbai." says Shravan Shroff, managing director, Shringar Cinemas.

"We had over 60 per cent occupancy levels across our multiplexes in the country. The latest Bond movie comes after a spate of Hollywood failures at the box office. The Dark Knight was the only other movie to do well, but it did not have a great opening and picked up only after the first week," says Gautam Dutta, CEO, cine media, PVR Cinemas.

Body of Lies and Hancock were some of the Hollywood movies that were released this year in India. The previous Bond movie, Casino Royale, was considered the biggest Hollywood hit of the year in India upon its release in 2006. Daniel Craig's debut as Bond, was released with about 428 prints.

This time around, Sony Pictures India released Quantum of Solace with 600 prints, dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu too, for maximum appeal.

"This has been the most successful Bond movie for us in India. We have earned revenues of an estimated Rs 17 crore in the first three days and we hope the total revenues would be in the range Rs 48-50 crore. We believe Quantum of Solace has got the biggest opening compared to all the Hollywood movie released this year," said Kercy Daruwalla, managing director, Sony Pictures Entertainment India.

Unlike last year, 2008 has been a dry spell for Hollywood. In the first half of 2007, movies like Spiderman 3, Shrek 3 and Pirates of Caribbean 3 raked in plenty of moolah at the box office.