Bhooth Bangla is looking to collect around Rs. 12-12.50 crore nett on Friday at the Indian box office. This comes after the film raked in Rs. 3.50 crore nett from paid previews last night, taking the all-inclusive opening day to Rs. 16 crore nett approx. This is a positive start, with the film showing good movement in current sales today and last night in previews as well.
The opening is better than Akshay Kumar’s previous film Jolly LLB 3, which collected Rs. 12 crore on its first day last year. That was a franchise film, therefore came with higher expectations as well. In fact, this is the highest opening for a non-franchise Akshay Kumar film in the post-pandemic era, ahead of the Rs. 10.50 crore of Samrat Prithviraj, which was a much bigger film in terms of costs involved. The star hasn’t had the best of times over the recent years, but his last couple of films have done reasonably well. Although none of them could emerge as clean HITs, things seem to be on the right track.
Being a comedy film, Bhooth Bangla can hope for a big Sunday growth. Furthermore, the film is faring better in Hindi belt states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which typically sees big surges on Sunday. If the film could build upon this start over the weekend, making gains on Saturday and Sunday, there is a very good chance of it sailing through, as the costs involved are quite reasonable.
The industry is currently riding on a positive wave of a huge blockbuster that is Dhurandhar: The Revenge. Before that, Mardaani 3 and The Kerala Story 2 did reasonably well. While they weren’t massive HITs or something, their outcome was certainly positive. If Bhooth Bangla turns out well, it will be another shot in the arm. There are some other small and medium scale films slated to release next month. The hope will be that Bhooth Bangla and those films continue the positive trend.
