Kantara: Chapter 1 (Hindi) is off to a good start at the Indian box office, with early estimates putting its first-day collections in the range of Rs. 16.50-17 crore nett. The opening is best in Maharashtra and the Eastern circuits. Gujarat and the Central circuits are decent but could have been better, considering they generally overindex for South dub films. The North was expectedly low.
Given the extraordinary run of the original film, expectations within the trade were sky-high. With the added advantage of a holiday release, the film was expected to open around Rs. 40 crore or so, akin to sequels of South breakouts like Baahubali, KGF, and Pushpa.
Those lofty expectations were ruled out early on when the advance opened, as there was no rush in bookings. In fact, the initial advances were a bit too low, and it seemed like the film may open just around Rs. 10 crore. However, the advance gained some momentum towards the end yesterday, and today the movement in current sales made further improvement, taking the film over the Rs. 15 crore mark.
Viewed independently of the expectations, the opening day number is quite good, especially for the kind of film it is, as this isn’t the typical masala actioner that starts big. The hope was that appreciation for the first film would boost its initial draw, but that hasn’t fully materialised. The minor hiccup, though, is that these numbers have come on a national holiday, and collections typically drop on the next day. It needs to be seen where the film lands tomorrow, and that will define where the film will head.
The opening is better down South, for both the original and dubbed versions. Although even here, it could have probably scored higher. The All India opening day will be around Rs. 60 crore GROSS, including Wednesday night previews.
ALSO READ: Mirai Box Office Collections: Crosses 100cr in India, Second Teja Sajja Film to Hit Century