Reasons that triggered Akshay Kumar-Emraan Hashmi's 'Selfiee's shockingly low numbers
Akshay Kumar and Emraan Hashmi starrer Selfiee was released in the theaters on Friday (February 24). Also starring Diana Penty and Nushrratt Bhaurccha, the Raj Mehta directorial was decently promoted on a lot of platforms. However, despite being led by several A-list actors, the film gasped for breath on its opening day and has reportedly grossed around Rs. 3cr. Let's understand why this happened.
Remake factor might have worked against film
Selfiee is the Hindi adaptation of the 2019 Malayalam film Driving Licence. Post the pandemic, several remakes have fallen flat, since access to the original means the audience doesn't want to waste money on Hindi versions. Jersey, Vikram Vedha, and Laal Singh Chaddha are some examples, while Drishyam 2 was an exception due to the non-availability of the Hindi dub of its original film.
Overdose of Kumar's back-to-back films?
Kumar is famously the busiest actor in B-town, with multiple films separated by only a few months. Last year, he had five releases: four theatrical and one direct-to-digital release. The audience may want to take a break from his films or perhaps want to wait for better ones. A case, in contrast, is Pathaan—SRK's smashing comeback after four years set the screens on fire.
Audience's cinema-going behavior changed drastically after pandemic
The box office numbers of the past few releases have proved that people don't want to visit the theaters for simple family dramas and such. Instead, they only want to buy a ticket for fantasy, big-scale action, and larger-than-life films. Brahmastra: Part One—Shiva, KGF: Chapter 2, Pushpa: The Rise, and RRR are some prominent examples that pulled audiences back to the theaters.
There is multitude of options available on OTT
The rise of OTT is another major force to reckon with since there is no dearth of options for viewers to watch on platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, ZEE5, and SonyLiv, among numerous others. From web series to films of every genre, OTT offers everything at a fixed value, so visiting the theater probably ranks low on people's priority list.
