Christmas Day proved to be a mixed bag for Bollywood at the box office, as Varun Dhawan’s much-anticipated film ‘Baby John’ opened to lukewarm numbers. The film reportedly earned an estimated Rs 12.5 crore on its opening day, states a report on Sacnilk.
Despite the holiday push, the film failed to surpass Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’, which amassed Rs 19.75 crore on its 21st day in theatres.
The strong performance of ‘Pushpa 2’ coupled with the roaring success of ‘Mufasa’, has seemingly taken a huge chunk out of the ‘Baby John’ collections.’Baby John’, featuring Varun Dhawan in a high-octane avatar, was predicted to rake in Rs 13 crore on its opening day. However, the film underperformed against expectations and struggled with mixed early reviews. The competition was further intensified by other Christmas screenings of ‘Pushpa 2’ and ‘Mufasa’, as well as the Kannada action thriller ‘Max’, starring Kichcha Sudeep.
The Kichcha Sudeep starrer emerged as a surprise success story, recording the highest opening for a Kannada film in 2024 with a Rs 10 crore collection on Day 1. With positive word of mouth, it is set for a strong extended weekend.
‘Pushpa 2’, helmed by Sukumar, continues to create a frenzy with its gripping storyline and Allu Arjun’s stellar performance. Despite being in its third week, the film shows no signs of slowing down, making it a tough contender for any new release. The film’s collections have also set it up to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
Meanwhile, ‘Baby John’ is Varun’s first big-screen project after the release of his web series ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny‘ which debuted in October.