Weekly Box Office Analysis: After Liger's Debacle, Will South Face The Same Fate As Bollywood?

Film trade expert Girish Wankhede analyses the box office of last week's releases, in an exclusive column for Filmibeat. Read on.

Liger Box Office Report And Analysis

Liger was one of the biggest disappointments of recent times. It was marketed aggressively, with the lead pair of Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday visiting 17 cities of India in 34 days. The buzz for Liger was enormous; the songs were also catchy and shot lavishly. With all the right check-in boxes, the only (and most important) thing missing in Liger was an engaging script.

While the director and the main lead Vijay Deverakonda were too smug and overconfident before the release, the message conveyed was ambiguous and the excitement suddenly narrowed down. Further, the #boycottliger trend owing to an old, edited clip of director Puri Jagannadh's film and the Aafat song normalising rape were also doing the rounds. The controversies and the confidence to host the Paid Previews in theatres a day before its release could not save this overhyped film.

Liger was released on August 25 in Telugu and Hindi along with dubbed versions in Tamil and Malayalam. It opened with Rs 19 crore on Thursday worldwide excluding its Hindi version. Then it garnered Rs 9.75 crore on Friday, Rs 8.75 crore on Saturday, Rs 8.50 crore on Sunday and Rs 1.5 crore on Monday, making it a total of Rs 47.50 crore in the first 5 days of release. The Hindi Liger fetched Rs 1.25 crore on Thursday Paid Previews and then 4.5 crores on Friday. On Saturday, it made 4.25 crores, 3.75 crores on Sunday and 1.35 crores on Monday and thus totaling to 15.10 crores in 5 days which is devastating.

This ambitious film marked the entry of Vijay Deverakonda in the Bollywood and Hindi market, and the stakes were considerably high. The promotions had a huge visibility quotient, as Vijay Deverekonda and Ananya Panday visited colleges, malls, multiplexes and radio stations, with social media influencers amplifying the campaign. The energy and excitement shown by the crowd during all on-ground activation was impressive, but the word of mouth and bad reviews could not save Liger. Moviegoers found it too loud, incoherent, and illogical at places. By the time the Sunday India-Pakistan Asia Cup 2022 cricket match was poised to become a spoilsport, Liger was already steaming out at the box office.

It's high time mainstream filmmakers in India, whether it is Bollwood or the south, get more serious on the content rather than the paraphernalia.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero India Box Office

Another noteworthy release was Japanese anime adventure film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which was released in India in more than 1,000 screens. Released two months ago in Japan, it was a hit huge there and critically acclaimed. In India, the visibility quotient of Dragon Ball was low and so was the buzz. Even then, the film made Rs 3 crore on its opening day, Rs 3.5 crore on day 2, Rs 4.7 crore on day 3, Rs 1.5 crore on day 4 and Rs 70 lakh on day 5. The first week total for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is Rs 13.40 crore - quite decent! It had a connect with the fans in India, who found the animated action and the fresh characters quite appealing.

Dagadi Chawl 2 Box Office - Second Week

Marathi social action drama Dagadi Chawl 2 featuring Ankush Chaudhary and Makarand Deshpande is also on shaky grounds in its second week. The film generated Rs 3.27 crore in its first week but the Friday of its second week made a mere Rs 18 lakh. It collected Rs 27 lakh on the second Saturday, Rs 24 lakh on the second Sunday, Rs 12 lakh on the second Monday and another Rs 12 lakh on the subsequent Tuesday. Thus, Dagadi Chawl 2 made a total of Rs 4.22 crore in 12 days, which is still below expectations. The visibility was remarkable, and both the actors have great acceptability in Marathi centres. However, it needed more ground activation and digital push even after the release so that the tempo could have been maintained.

Karthikeya 2 Third Week Box Office

Karthikeya 2 is losing its fire in its third week in theatres. With excellent reviews and strong word of mouth, the Hindi version of the film also created a great buzz. Its first week stood at Rs 16.66 crore at the box office and the second week was Rs 13.54 crore. In the third week, Karthikeya 2 generated Rs 82 lakh on Friday, Rs 1.62 crore on Saturday, Rs 1.77 crore on Sunday and Rs 68 lakh on Monday. The third week total of Karthikeya 2 was Rs 24.21 crore in 17 days, as it was released on a Saturday.

Going by the box office figures in the south, Karthikeya 2 is already entering the Rs 100-crore club, which is a big feat for a film which was made in a modest Rs 20 crore. Its first part Karthikeya was also a big gainer, which was made in Rs 5 crore and had collected Rs 20 crore in 2014.