Box Office: It Ends With Us beats Ulajh; collects Rs. 1.25 cr approx. on day 1; is a RARE Hollywood film to be screened in original English version at Gaiety-Galaxy

The exhibition sector wasn’t expecting house-full crowds this weekend and braced for a dry period. However, they are in for a pleasant surprise as the Hollywood film It Ends With Us is drawing audiences in hordes. Usually, such English love stories get a limited audience and hence, are only released in the English version in limited screens. But the demand for It Ends With Us is such that the cinema halls have started increasing shows today, August 10.It Ends With Us was released on August 9 and had paid previews on August 8. The audience was aware that the ticket would be sold for Rs. 99 on August 9 and for Rs. 199 on August 10 and 11 as part of Cinema Lovers Day celebrations. Yet, the urgency was such that the paid previews, with normal ticket prices, were sold out in many theatres. Yesterday, It Ends With Us was one of the best-performing films in the country. It collected approx. Rs. 1.25 crores. To put things into perspective, this is more than what Janhvi Kapoor’s last week release Ulajh collected on its first day (Rs. 1 crore) though it had a higher screen count.Looking at the demand, the theatres immediately increased the showcasing. The makers had originally planned to screen it in 150 screens but looking at the demand, the screen count increased to 258.Such Hollywood films usually have a couple of shows in a day. But PVR Juhu, Mumbai is playing 6 shows of It Ends With Us today and tomorrow it will have as many as 8 shows. PVR Nexus, Koramangala, Bengaluru, will have 11 shows starting tomorrow, with the first show starting at 8:15 pm. E-Square Elite, Pune, meanwhile will have 9 shows on Sunday.But what has really been a surprise is that Mumbai’s G7 multiplex, also called Gaiety-Galaxy, will play one show day of It Ends With Us in the 238-seater Gemini. A trade source said, “Gaiety-Galaxy used to play English films in the original version at one point in Gem and Glamour, which have around 47 seats. Since 11-12 years, they discontinued the practice and now only show select big Hollywood films, that too in the Hindi version. It Ends With Us is the first English film in many years to be screened in G7 in the original English version.”A multiplex official said, “When it comes to Hollywood, only big-screen, franchise films perform in such a manner. The small and mid-sized films love stories do get audiences but in select theatres. It Ends With Us, however, proved to be an exception. The word of mouth is tremendous and it’ll now also get showcasing after the Independence Day releases arrive on August 15.”It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni and Brandon Sklenar and is based on the bestselling novel of the same name. It is the story of a woman who falls in love with a charming man but soon, things take a turn for the worse.