It was a blockbuster weekend for Bollywood as the new releases Gadar 2 and OMG 2 ended up gathering almost Rs 180 crore (Rs 1.8 billion) between them.
In the post-pandemic world, when so many big movies with major superstars have struggled to get even half of that in their entire lifetime, here come two movies with Sunny Deol and Akshay Kumar respectively that have been bringing in record audiences.
Gadar 2 has turned out to be a phenomena and is a major blockbuster in three days already.
The film was expected to open well, but no one imagined that an excess of Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) would come in on the opening day itself.
Numbers improved on Saturday with Rs 43.08 crore (Rs 430.8 million) being collected, but it was just a teaser of what would transpire on the next day. Sunday scored bit as collections topped the Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) mark.
The result was that the first weekend collections of Gadar 2 stands at Rs 135 crore (Rs 1.35 billion).
With the Independence Day holiday coming up, the Sunny Deol, Ameesha Patel and Utkarsh Sharma starrer is set to cross Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) by the close of the first week.
OMG 2 is also bringing in good numbers.
The Akshay Kumar, Pankaj Tripathi and Yami Gautam starrer had a lot of uncertainty around its release due to censor issues. Eventually, it had to release with merely 10 days of promotion.
Still, it managed to exceed expectations with an opening of Rs 10.26 crore (Rs 102.6 million) and then saw a major jump in collections on Saturday to bring in Rs 15.30 crore (Rs 153 million).
The film could well have collected more, but it has been playing at less than 1,500 screens and also has many prime shows been split with the other big release Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, which is running in theatres in its third week.
Still, the collections did jump on Sunday as well and that has resulted in the weekend numbers crossing the Rs 44 crore (Rs 440 million) mark. This, interestingly, is not too far away from the Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani weekend of Rs 45.90 crore (Rs 459 million).
This Amit Rai directed film will take a huge lead on the Independence Day holiday, and is on the path to enter the Rs 100 Crore Club before the close of the second weekend.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.
