'Housefull 4' crosses 50cr, 'Made in China'and 'Saand Ki Aankh' slow

It has been a Diwali bonanza for the Akshay Kumar-starrer "Housefull 4", which has grossed Rs 53.22 crore in the domestic market over three days since opening, leaving the other two festive releases -- "Made In China" and "Saand Ki Aankh" -- far behind in the box-office race.

"Made In China", featuring Rajkummar Rao, Boman Irani and Mouni Roy, was a distant second, finishing with an all-India collection of Rs 3.98 crore over the weekend, according to koimoi.com. "Saand Ki Aankh", starring Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu, grossed Rs 2.75 crore. However, given the low budgets of the two films, the trade believes these could end up profitable, too.

"Housefull 4" had the advantage of being a new, star-studded sequel of a successful franchise and, more importantly, had a bigger screen count. The film released in around 3,500 screens, as compared to "Made In China" and "Saand Ki Aankh", which had around 1,500 and 1,000 screens respectively, according to a hindustantimes.com report.

Akshay Kumar's new film also features Riteish Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, Kriti Sanon, Kriti Kharbanda, Pooja Hegde and Chunkey Pandey, and the mutlistarrer comedy caper collected Rs 19.09 crore on Friday, Rs 18.81 on Saturday and Rs 15.33 on Sunday, totalling up to Rs 53.22 crore.

Producer Sajid Nadiadwala of "Housefull 4" said: "The first three days of our film since release were like paid previews. People came in despite the festive season and enjoyed the film. I think we had the best paid previews with a total collection of Rs 53 crore, and our actual weekend starts today."

With the festive fever continuing with Bhai Dooj on Monday, all three films are expected to continue doing big business.