In the last 20 years or so, 6 times the highest opener of the year has turned out to be a flop. It’s as interesting as it gets! While these movies had a tremendous buzz before leading into the release for several reasons like star cast, music, makers and promotion, they eventually got rejected owing to the content. If a film has broken an all-time record on its opening day, it often happens that the very same film goes on to become one of the highest grosser of all time. But surprisingly or shockingly it has also happened that despite the films creating a record of the biggest opener ever it has failed at the box office.
Here are box office flops that were highest openers in the year they released, but eventually failed at the box office:
#1. Thugs of Hindostan (2018): The Aamir Khan starrer released last week and opened to record-breaking Rs 52.25 crore. It became the first film to hit a half-century at the box office on its opening day itself but collapsed after that. It's been 7 days and the movie has earned a meagre Rs 137.55 crore. It looks difficult for the film to even go past Rs 150 crore mark.
#2. Mission Kashmir (2000): The movie opened bigger than its fellow release Mohabbatein making Rs 1.64 crore and broke the opening day record of Refugee, which had released earlier that year. Hrithik Roshan had just become the thing after Kaho Na Pyaar Hai and there he was in his first action movie along the likes of Sanjay Dutt in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir. Despite it clashing with the Big B-SRK starrer Mohabbatein, Mission Kashmir became the highest opener of 2000 but succumbed to the average word of mouth. The extremely dominant pre-release buzz gave enough space for Mission Kashmir to be the highest opener of the year.
#3. Mangal Pandey(2005): Before Thugs of Hindostan, it was Mangal Pandey: The Rising. The movie was hyped to an all-time high and that resulted in an opening day record making Rs 3.24 crore but it couldn't go anywhere post that. Aamir Khan was coming back to the big screen after four long years in what could only have been thought of as the biggest film of the year. There was no way Mangal Pandey wasn’t opening big. Sadly enough when the film got opened to the audiences, the reports weren’t too encouraging. While the film may technically not be termed a box office flop, it still, however, was one of the biggest let downs of the year. But only after it thumped a solid opening!
#4. Refugee (2000): The fact that Amitabh Bachchan's son was making his debut had made Refugee a hot property. And it was also the debut of Kareena Kapoor Khan, sister of Karishma Kapoor and granddaughter of the showman of Hindi film industry Raj Kapoor. A record-breaking start was a given and that's what happened. The movie made Rs 1.56 crore but went downhill afterward.
#6. Hindustan Ki Kasam (1999): The mind-boggling pre-release buzz for this Ajay Devgn starrer would know why Hindustan Ki Kasam was the highest opener in 1999. The television promos of the film had created a ruckus and an action packed bonanza was kept in waiting. However, the results turned out to be disastrous as the mega budget movie didn’t find takers post the opening weekend. The movie created a new opening day record by making Rs 1.45 crore but couldn't cash on the record-breaking start. It was the directorial debut of Ajay Devgn's father Veeru Devgan.
#7. Koyla (1997): This Shah Rukh Khan starrer was much-awaited thanks to its chartbuster music, thrilling trailer and the fact that it was the reunion of SRK with Rakesh Roshan after the blockbuster Karan Arjun. The movie created an all-time opening record as it made Rs 1.06 crore. But it couldn't live up to the mammoth expectations.
#8. Trimurti (1995): The first film in the history of Indian cinema to hit Rs 1 crore mark on its opening day was this Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, and Shah Rukh Khan starrer.This one came as no surprise as Trimurti was one mega movie that looked like was going to be another Subhash Ghai blockbuster. While stars like Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor were at the peak of their career, Shah Rukh Khan had just become the thing after Baazigar and other movies. However, it was because of showman Subhash Ghai and his production house that Trimurti was being seen as the biggest film of 1995 even though Mukul Anand was directing it. Despite having taken a bumper opening, the film majorly started to see fall in numbers.