Rs 50 crore day at the box office, with both Gadar 2 and OMG 2 exceeding expectations

Pankaj Tripathi and Akshay Kumar in OMG 2. While Gadar 2 brought in Rs 40.10 crore, OMG 2 made Rs 10.26 crore in ticket sales on opening day. (Image source: Screen grab/YouTube/Viacom18)

It was a huge day for the industry, as all predictions fell short and all expectations were surpassed, what with over Rs 50 crore coming from the two new Bollywood releases - Gadar 2 and OMG 2. While it was expected that between the two films, Rs 25-30 crore would come in on Day 1, no one had imagined that double that amount would be in the till by end of day. The combined collections of the two films were just a little less than Pathaan which had set the record with collections of Rs 57 crore on its opening day. While Gadar 2 brought in Rs 40.10 crore, OMG 2 made Rs 10.26 crore in ticket sales on opening day.

Let’s talk about Gadar 2 first. The film is a sequel to Gadar - Ek Prem Katha, which was very successful at the box office (made with a budget of under Rs 19 crore, the film went on to enter the 100 Crore Club). This was very much evidenced in the re-release that took place a few weeks back and then too the shows were seeing good occupancy at limited shows. That must have given the makers a good idea that history could well be repeated with Gadar 2.

The marketing and promotion of the film were spot-on, and analysts kept raising expectations for the first-day collections for the film; they started at Rs 15 crores and then revised the figure up to Rs 20-25 crore followed by Rs 30-35 crore as the first day numbers. However, what has transpired is something absolutely unimaginable as the film has managed to get into the 40s and that too on a working day and in a clash. Sunny Deol, Anil Sharma and ZEE Studios have delivered a fantastic start with the film which is already a winner and now it has to be seen how big it turns out to be when the first week is through.

OMG 2

OMG 2 too has started in a better-than-expected note. Considering the challenges that it was facing pre-release due to censor cuts and the trailer too arriving less than 10 days back, there was a lot of uncertainty around how it would all look at the box office. Moreover, the film also got an A certificate and that seemed like another bummer for it.

Still, what one expected was an opening in the range of Rs 7-9 crore, and that would have been decent too. However, the collections turned out to be even better and a double-digit score was hit with Rs 10.26 crores coming in. This is good considering the genre and the fact that Akshay Kumar has limited screen time in the film. However, what’s remarkable is that there was huge competition in the form of Gadar 2. What further works in favour of the film is the fact that the appreciation is there, which means the collections would only get better and better right till the big Independence Day holiday, and that should be enough to take it into the profit zone.

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources