Liger Vs Karthikeya 2: Liger (Hindi) has bombed the box office, earning only ₹18.50 crores in its first week. The film’s late-night Thursday paid preview presentations brought in ₹1.25 crores, and its opening day brought in another ₹4.50 crore. However, beginning on Saturday, ticket sales began to plummet, and by Monday, the film had crashed.
It’s a new tendency that has emerged since the pandemic in which films are no longer witnessing a dip from Monday onwards, but cracks may be noticed as early as Saturday and the fall begins on Sunday. Unlike in the past, when films used to survive at least a weekend at the box office, this is no longer the case, as reports have begun to spread at an alarming rate on social media and other media channels.
The low statistics for Liger, Vijay Deverakonda’s much-hyped pan-India premiere, are surprising given that the actor’s several city tours drew enormous audiences – the momentum he built up then helped to pull in viewers for the preview and Day 1.
Karthikeya 2 is the movie that is genuinely doing well. The Hindi version that had been dub also kept making money in the third week. Even while not all areas of the country are seeing large collections, it is drawing attention in some areas, and after three weeks, it has nearly reached the ₹27 crore threshold. The fact that the initial day’s ticket sales were only ₹7 lakh and that the movie has since experienced continuous highs makes this one an even bigger surprise smash.
Due to the lack of competition this week—nothing came out yesterday, and Brahmastra debuts on Friday—the movie has an open week (September 9). This creates the conditions for Karthikeya 2 (Hindi) to continue grossing. It remains to be seen whether the movie can reach its current lifetime earnings goal of ₹30 crores from the Hindi version in just four weeks or if it will require some of the fifth week. The fact that it is one of the year’s few successes and has given the exhibition and distribution community cause for celebration is what matters.
