Karzzz gets a mixed response

Star Cast: Himmesh Reshammiya, Urmila Matondkar

The sole release of the week, Karzzzz has opened to mixed houses. The opening was best in U P and parts of Rajasthan.

Single screens, in several circuits, were also good. However, the multiplexes sported a different picture completely. The opening at plexes was below par almost everywhere, taking the trade by complete surprise.

In fact, the trade was unanimous that the opening would be huge, but that wasn't the case at all.

Too many prints and too many shows are being attributed to the below the mark occupancy. The trade pundits are waiting for the weekend to get over for a clearer picture.(Updated on Oct 20)

The Incredible Hulk was a box-office bruiser, yanking in $54.5 million over opening weekend and laying to rest the stigma of his unappreciated big-screen adventure five years ago.

"The Hulk got a second chance, got angry and came back with a vengeance," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "This was a big question mark going in. The film had a history or a checkered past."

Ang Lee's Hulk opened in 2003 with a whopping $62.1 million weekend but then rolled over and died in subsequent weeks amid terrible word of mouth. That movie crawled to $132.2 million in sales, seemingly a respectable total but actually meager considering its huge first weekend.

Marvel Studios, which financed The Incredible Hulk, and distributor Universal hope the new movie, starring Edward Norton as the scientist who turns into the Hulk when maddened, will have a longer shelf life and eventually top out with better numbers than its predecessor.

Also rebounding off a bad last movie was director M Night Shyamalan, whose fright flick The Happening with Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel opened at a sturdy No 3 with $30.5 million.

Shyamalan, whose blockbusters include The Sixth Sense and Signs, flopped two years ago with Lady in the Water.

"Night rocked," said Chris Aronson, distribution executive for 20th Century Fox, which released The Happening, a tale of an airborne toxin that prompts people to kill themselves in ghastly ways.

"Any time you're coming off an effort like Lady in the Water that was perceived as a disappointment, movie-goers and critics tend to be a little gun-shy, but the numbers speak for themselves."

Fans and critics definitely were gun-shy on The Incredible Hulk, some expecting the movie to bomb because of the bad taste "Hulk" left in audiences' mouths.

"With all the naysayers, this is a huge accomplishment," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal.