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Ranbir Kapoor and Bobby Deol starrer Animal has dominated headlines ever since its teaser was released and from the way its advance booking is being reported, it seems it is all set to do the same at the box office. Ranbir’s films have had an inconsistent track at the box office of late. After the humungous hit Sanju that re released pre-pandemic, his releases Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Brahmastra and Shamshera received a mixed response from the audience. While Shamshera was panned entirely, Brahmastra pulled in the people but had a bloated budget of Rs 400 crore. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar brought some relief with its decent earnings. However, the actoris expected to beat box office blues with Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, which is expected to open with Rs 100 crore globally.
Animal, scheduled to hit the theatres on December 1, is an intense crime saga which revolves around the complicated relationship between Arjun Singh (Ranbir) and his industrialist father Balbir Singh (Anil Kapoor). The cast also includes Bobby Deol as Ranbir’s mute nemesis who is enough to tempt the 90s kids to come to the theatres. Rashmika Mandanna, an actor with a good pull in the southern region of the country, plays Ranbir’s submissive wife. The film’s director Vanga carries weight as well.
With a widely appreciated trailer, enough familiar faces to tempt viewers and modest promotions, Animal is looking to rule the ticket counters for weeks to come, at least until Shah Rukh Khan’s Dunki releases on December 21.
Film trade expert and producer, Girish Johar told indianexpress.com, “Expectations are mammoth from Aninal. Ranbir Kapoor has a penchant for starting big on non-holidays, which others can’t do even on holidays, so that’s clearly up his sleeve. Animal is a brilliant presentation and people are keenly looking forward to it. Despite the adult certificate, non-holiday release and its longer duration, the film is set to have a massive opening, not only in India but also in overseas markets.”
Johar suggested that Animal is a “blasting package” which will do a business of Rs 100 crore GBOC, with Rs 55 crore coming just from the Hindi version. The regional version of the film is expected to earn somewhere around Rs 15 crore on the opening day.
Film trade expert Taran Adarsh is looking at a “flying start” for Animal on the day of its release as he shared on X, “#Xclusiv… #Animal is all set to embark on a FLYING START 🔥🔥🔥… CROSSES 2 LAC MARK AT NATIONAL CHAINS… Advance booking status at *national chains*… Note: [Friday] Day 1 tickets sold…⭐️ #PVRInox: 1,61,000 ⭐️ #Cinepolis: 42,000 ⭐️ Total: 2,03,000 tickets sold. #AnimalTheFilm.” Industry tracker Sacnilk reported that the film has already sold over 7.4 lakh tickets by the time of writing this story, earning Rs 19.7 crore.
On the other hand, Meghna Gulzar’s Sam Bahadur, featuring Vicky Kaushal, which releases on the same day as Animal, is looking at a slower start, although the audience has loved the film’s trailer. It has Kaushal bringing to the fore the story of India’s war hero and first Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. But Animal being a mass entertainer would edge out Sam Bahadur, leaving it to start slow at the ticket counters. Girish Johar said the film is expected to earn Rs 3-4 crore on December 1 and would grow over the weekend on the basis of word of mouth.
Film distributor Akshaye Rathi is confident that the Meghna Gulzar directorial has legs enough to carry it toward a profitable run. He said, “Sam Manekshaw won’t be a massive opener when measured against Animal but it is a subject which is very close to every Indian heart. It’s a subject which is about India’s greatest trend to celebrate its soldiers. Also, Meghna Gulzar is a damn good filmmaker, Vicky Kaushal is a phenomenal actor and Ronnie Screwala is a producer who backs his films well. So, all of this put together, I am pretty sure that Sam Manekshaw will grow from word of mouth and become a film with respectable lifetime numbers eventually.”
He compared Animal vs Sam Bahadur clash at the box office to the Gadar 2 vs OMG 2 clash earlier this year. Rathi added, “It’s a repeat of what happened on the August 15 week earlier this year. We had Gadar 2 and OMG 2 releasing together, where one opened like a storm and became one of the highest-grossers of all time. The other one opened relatively slower but, with the merit of its content, went from strength to strength and became a respectable grosser.”
Though he is confident about Sam Bahadur grabbing a stronghold at the box office, Rathi agreed it would have been better for the film to release a week early or later.
He said, “In an ideal world, all of us exhibitors would have liked some spacing and Sam Bahadur to come either on December 8 or 15. There are no significant releases on both the dates. But I guess, it is a producer’s call and RSVP and T-series have put enough thought to it. We would have liked that spacing where Animal could be given all the screens and shows it deserved and we didn’t have to dilute it. Similarly the next week, or the week after that, Sam Bahadur could have been served justice the way it deserves in terms of showcasing and screens.”
Meanwhile, both Sam Bahadur and Animal hold important places in the overall box office performance of 2023, which has been good so far primarily because of Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and Jawan, and Sunny Deol’s Gadar 2. December stays crucial as it will decide whether 2023 could bring out the Indian film industry from the slumber of three years.
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