Akshay Kumar's 'Bhooth Bangla' starts strong with over ₹15cr opening
What's the story
Akshay Kumar's latest release, Bhooth Bangla, has made a strong debut at the box office. The horror-comedy saw a massive jump in collections on Friday after its paid previews on Thursday night. On Friday, it raked in ₹12.25 crore from 12,386 shows, marking a staggering 250% increase from Thursday's ₹3.5 crore, reported Sacnilk. With this growth, the film's total India gross stands at ₹18.9 crore and net domestic collection at ₹15.75 crore.
Box office battle
'Bhooth Bangla' ousts 'Dhurandhar' from top spot
The film's impressive opening has seemingly ended the reign of Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which had been at the top for four weeks. On its 30th day, Dhurandhar 2 saw a significant drop in collections of around ₹2.7 crore net and ₹3.24 crore gross. Despite this slowdown, it continues to boast an impressive cumulative net total of ₹1,105.82 crore!
Performance comparison
How does 'Bhooth Bangla' fare against other Kumar films?
Despite its strong opening, Bhooth Bangla's performance is a mixed bag when compared to Kumar's recent releases. His courtroom drama Jolly LLB 3 opened at ₹12.5 crore, while Housefull 5 had a much better opening of around ₹24 crore. On the other hand, Kesari Chapter 2 had a lower start at ₹7.76 crore. Meanwhile, the cop drama Sooryavanshi had collected around ₹26.29 crore net on its opening day.
Genre comparison
Comparison with other horror-comedies
In the horror-comedy genre, Bhooth Bangla lags behind several recent releases. Thamma opened at ₹24 crore last year, while Stree 2 set a huge record with ₹51.8 crore on day one. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2's first-day collections were ₹14.11 crore, while Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 registered a massive opening of ₹35.5 crore. Bhooth Bangla is expected to grow over the weekend due to positive word-of-mouth.
Reunion
The film marks Kumar's reunion with Priyadarshan
Directed by Priyadarshan, Bhooth Bangla is his reunion with Kumar after several successful collaborations like Hera Pheri (2000), Garam Masala (2005), Bhagam Bhag (2006), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), De Dana Dan (2009) and Khatta Meetha (2010). It also stars Wamiqa Gabbi, Tabu, Rajpal Yadav, Paresh Rawal, and Jisshu Sengupta.