Destroying both Bollywood and regional language releases in November was Hollywood’s latest disaster movie, 2012. The much-hyped apocalypse movie raked in collections north of Rs. 300 million in its first week. The collections are steady as it moves to its third week in a sure-footed fashion. The distributors expect it to collect close to Rs. 500 million by the time it closes its run in India.

Among the movies which were vanquished by the unstoppable run of 2012 were Tum Mile and Kurbaan. The second week collections of Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani was hit as well. Tum Mile which featured Emraan Hashmi and Soha Ali Khan was a product of the ever-dependable Bhatt camp while Kurbaan which paired up real-life couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Both movies failed to make an impact as the 2012 wave crushed them underneath. Kurbaan received rave reviews from critics, with some hailing it as the most powerful movie of the year. But the reviews don’t seem to have translated into box office collections.

The regional language movies suffered as well from the record-shattering antics of Roland Emmerich’s disaster movie. The entire Indian movie industry has received a major jolt from the Hollywood entry.

Meanwhile, 2012 is well on its way to being the most successful Hollywood movie to be released in India. The current title holder is Spiderman 3 and even Spidey looks prepared to make way for the new Hollywood champion at the Indian BO.

The “mother of all disaster movies”, has raked in a total of $590 million worldwide and that too by the 17^th day of its release. Though the response at the US box office has been quite ordinary, the international audience has responded to the movie with unlimited enthusiasm and that contributed to the huge numbers.

- Sanjoy Alexander is a contributing writer to a leading Indian magazine. He is an avid blogger who blogs on movies, cars and photography at http://reelsandwheels.blogspot.com.   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it