John Abraham‘s Satyameva Jayate 2, which released in theatres on Thursday, had a dull start at the box office and managed to collect 2.75 to 3 crore (nett) on the first day, Box Office India reported. The first day collections of Ayush Sharma and Salman Khan’s Antim: The Final Truth that released on Friday, on the other hand, stood in the 4.25-4.50 crore (nett) range.
On the second day, the Abraham-starrer collected around 1.75-2 crore (nett) and saw a huge drop in footfall.
According to BOI, the multiplexes saw menial footfall for Satyameva Jayate 2. It was the single screens in places like UP, Bihar, Odisha, and Andhra that recorded maximum footfall. In comparison to Satyameva Jayate that released during Independence Day in 2018 and managed to earn a massive 20 crore on the first day, the sequel has heavily underperformed.
According to BOI, the lack of any holidays coinciding with Satyameva Jayate’s release could be one of the reasons for its poor show at the box office.
BOI also reported that Antim: The Final Truth might perform better over the weekend. The film got less footfall in East Punjab and West Bengal and struggled to get an audience outside Maharashtra.
As Abraham’s film marked a Thursday release, the film was expected to have an advantage over Antim: The Final Truth, which had a normal Friday release. Both films showed a trend of occupancy similar to films that were released prior to Akshay Kumar‘s Sooryavanshi.
The Kumar-starrer managed to collect Rs 26.50 crore (nett) on day one and emerged as one of the biggest releases after the second Covid-19 wave in India. Even after three weeks, the film managed to earn 80-85 lakh (nett) on the same Friday as Antim: The Final Truth released. A report in BOI also stated that the Sharma-starrer has however, become the second-highest opener in 2021 after Sooryavanshi.
Theatre owners too pointed out that the newly released films face stiff competition at the box office from Kumar’s film.
Anupam Reddy, an executive committee member of the Telangana State Film Chamber of Commerce and owner of Sudha Multiplex in Hyderabad told Silverscreen India that Antim: The Final Truth might be able to overthrow Satyameva Jayate 2 during the weekend, but Sooryavanshi is still showing a growth trend after three weeks.
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“Satyameva Jayate 2 could barely get much audience on Thursday morning but the evening shows saw a 30-40% occupancy. It has a possibility of doing better during the weekend but I feel Antim has a chance of overthrowing it due to the presence of Salman Khan in the film. Both the films are not getting much pre-booking for the weekend but I am hoping they will pick up. On the other hand, Sooryavanshi will also be a good competition to both films as after three weeks still, the numbers are pretty good.”
Earlier talking to Silverscreen India, film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi had said clashes are “not really a bad thing as long the films that are releasing, cater to different audiences.”
Satyameva Jayate 2 is directed by Milap Zaveri and it has Abraham playing a triple role – a father and his twin sons. Divya Khosla Kumar stars as the female lead in the film. On the other hand, Antim: The Final Truth is directed by Mahesh Manjrekar and has Khan making a guest appearance.