They are the two best actors in Hollywood. She is the best actress in Hollywood. He is the most stylish and successful Bond. He is the biggest brand in Bollywood history.

‘Thank god it’s Friday’ has a whole new meaning for a section of cine goers with Robert De Niro matching forces with Al Pacino, Meryl Streep matching steps with Pierce Brosnan, and Amitabh Bachchan matching up to a Shakespearean king.

Righteous Kill, Mamma Mia! and The Last Lear stir up a rare all-English multiplex menu on September 12 — 17 shows for Amitabh Bachchan’s first English film, 14 shows for De Niro-Pacino’s third film together (after Godfather II and Heat), and nine shows for the screen adaptation of the ABBA musical.

“Content is king now and that’s why such quality actors are piling up on a single Friday,” says Vikas Syal, the general manager of INOX (Forum). “This is why multiplexes came to Calcutta in the first place.”

If Meryl Streep’s single mother act in Mamma Mia! bowled over co-star Brosnan enough to announce “she’s truly the world’s greatest actress”, Pacino and De Niro’s partnership as two veteran New York City detectives in Righteous Kill has prompted producer Avi Lerner to term it as “an event in world history”.

And The Last Lear — the premiere of which will bring the biggies to town on Friday — has been described by director Rituparno Ghosh as Bachchan’s “first film in English, first film where he plays an actor and also his first art film”.

Bachchan plays a retired Calcutta-based stage actor Harish Mishra (Harry), who is cast in a film, alongside Preity Zinta, by director Arjun Rampal. “I would place this pretty high,” Bachchan has told t2 about his role in the film based on Utpal Dutt’s play Aajker Shahjahan.

Brosnan has spoken about how he had the “time of my life” playing one of the three potential fathers of Meryl Streep’s daughter in Mama Mia!

But all the rich talent of Pacino-De Niro, Streep-Brosnan, and Bachchan may not mean rich dividends at the box office sold on Bollywood.

“Despite the great actors on show, the advances have not been too great with Rock On!! still being the first choice for viewers this weekend,” says Abhishek Raina, marketing head of Fame Cinemas. “The Last Lear and Righteous Kill will only pick up after the first few shows depending on the content. They are very, very niche movies and in English.” Bottomline: They are no match for Bollywood.

But then there are those like actress June, for whom this is a fab Friday. “They are all my favourites - Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep. If I was free on Friday, I would have gone for back-to-back shows. I would start with Righteous Kill and then go for Mama Mia!. I love Rituda’s work and I love Amitabh Bachchan, so I would round it off with Last Lear!”