The Drishyam 2 wave is catching everyone unaware.
Last week, Bhediya, despite been well made, could not do optimal business. Now, An Action Hero's box office collections are low.
It had seemed that urban audiences would like An Action Hero, especially after seeing Ayushmann Khurrana's face-off with Jaideep Ahlawat in the promo.
The current times are difficult for mid-budget films and hence, one has to keep expectations in check from the opening day perspective. On a usual pre-pandemic Friday, it could have taken a start of Rs 5 crore-Rs 6 crore (Rs 50 million to Rs 60 million), but post-pandemic, Rs 3 crore-Rs 4 crore (Rs 30 million to Rs 40 million) is expected.
However, it was unfortunate to see the start being much lesser at Rs 1.31 crore (Rs 13.1 million).
Somehow, even in class centres at the major cities, the audience footfalls were low and hence, the collections stood below even Anek which had collected Rs 1.77 crore (Rs 17.7 million). There was growth on Saturday, but Sunday did not see an increase in numbers.
The weekend numbers stood at Rs 5.99 crore (Rs 59.9 million), which is very low.
Bhediya saw better numbers despite being in the second week.
The film brought in around Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million)* more and this was okay since the weekdays had contributed Rs 13.50 crore (Rs 135 million).
As long as around Rs 8 crore-Rs 10 crore (Rs 80 million to Rs 100 million) come in between Monday to Thursday, the Varun Dhawan-starrer would get some respite.
So far, Bhediya has collected Rs 52.50 crore (Rs 525 million)* and that's better than many other biggies, which have just stopped short after scoring a half century.
Of course, this is a big movie and one expected it to hit a century, or at least go past the lifetime collections of Varun Dhawan's JugJugg Jeeyo (Rs 85.25 crore/Rs 852.5 million). It would fall short of that though but would be interesting to see how much distance it eventually covers.
Meanwhile, Drishyam 2 has become a blockbuster.
The film had scored huge in the first two weeks and then in the third weekend, it has added around Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million)* more.
The collections are far greater than the combined weekend numbers of An Action Hero and Bhediya.
Audiences have clearly made their choice where the Ajay Devgn-starrer is finding the most traction.
So far, the film has collected Rs 187.50 crore (Rs 1.875 billion)* and now the countdown has begun for its entry into the Rs 200 Crore (Rs 2 billion) Club.
That feat should be accomplished by the end of this week.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
