Tiger Shroff returns as Ronnie once again in Baaghi 3 and the film got off to a decent start at the box-office. Early estimates suggest it earned Rs 17 – 18 crores on its first day, which is a respectable starting point thanks to strong performance from mass belts where it dominated collections. As expected, UP and Bihar scored big among others with Gujarat accounting for much of what was good about this opening day; even though this wasn’t really too difficult considering it was up against Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (a movie without any established stars).
On the first day, the movie theaters collected Rs.7 crores (approximately $1 million USD). Approximately 45% was contributed by the four main theatre owners- PVR, Inox, Cinepolis and Carnival (approximately 3 crore). These theatres mostly exist in major cities like Mumbai and Delhi, while they were more sparsely spread out when looking at states other than these two. This meant that the box office earnings from states other than Mumbai or Delhi will account for less than 40%. Additionally, although there was a good response from audiences in those regions too, especially those who wanted to watch Tiger Shroff’s new release- this came as no surprise due to his popularity amongst mass audiences.
The film suffered losses when audiences reacted negatively to the news about Corona Virus; however it did well with its target audience. There were reports that said people stopped going to theaters because they were afraid of being infected from other movie goers and many venues reported fewer people at the theater on April 4th than they normally would see on an average day. On top of that, many say reviews and ratings had a major impact on whether or not an individual chose to watch Baaghi 3 and there was less favorable word-of-mouth once viewers saw the less than favorable review rating and number of stars awarded by critics.
The film has a good chance at an excellent opening weekend, but it all boils down to what happens next on Monday and the following days – its essential that the trend stays steady. The stakes are high, and the film needs to make $150 million in order for it to make back the money invested by distributor Fox Star Studios (FSS), with only a positive trend indicating success. Baaghi 2 made about $160 million during its lifetime box-office run so far, making this movie’s performance very important – its future depends on how well it does over the next few days.
With many people taking off work or just reducing their hours due to Holi celebrations tomorrow afternoon/evening (the festival of colors where everyone throws colored water around), BTS 3 could receive an initial boost from having less competition when compared to other weekday releases.
