As many as five films released on Friday, October 20, 2023, and four among these had a South connection.
While Ganapath was an original Hindi film, Yaariyaan 2 was the remake of the hit Malayalam film, Bangalore Days.
Leo is a Tamil film, Tiger Nageshwara Rao is a Telugu film and Ghost is a Kannada film. These three films also saw a Hindi dubbed release.
Leo emerged as the biggest success with as much as Rs 60 crore* (Rs 600 million) coming in on the first day (Thursday). There was an expected drop on Friday, but it still brought in Rs 35 crore* (Rs 350 million). The collections rose on Saturday and Sunday despite the India-New Zealand cricket match.
The overall collections came to Rs 175 crore* (Rs 1.75 billion), which is a huge number, out of which the Hindi version contributed over Rs 9 crore* (Rs 90 million). This is a fantastic start for the Vijay starrer.
Tiger Nageshwar Rao and Ghost saw a smaller release in the Hindi version and hence, the collections were limited. But in their original Telugu and Kannada versions, they have found many takers.
Official collections are still awaited but given the costs involved, they should be able to go past the safety mark.
Ganapath has not done well at all.
It was an ambitious futuristic film, but audiences were just not excited enough fo catch this Vikas Behl directorial in theatres.
Collections were minuscule as the opening day brought in a mere Rs 2.25 crore (Rs 22.5 million), and then went lower.
The Tiger Shroff-starrer got a weekend of Rs 6.50 crore* (Rs 65 million) and may wrap up around the Rs 10 crore mark (Rs 100 million), hence turning out to be the box office debacle of the season.
Yaariyaan 2, as per the makers, has collected around Rs 3 crore* (Rs 30 million) over the weekend. Again, the collections are quite low.
The only solace is that the cost of Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) incurred on the film has been taken care of by pre-sales of OTT, satellite and music rights, as a result of which overall this is a profitable venture for the makers.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.
