Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga credits Ranbir Kapoor as a 'Superstar' in the opening credits of their new film, Animal, and the actor has firmly lived up to that title.
Ranbir has delivered a record opening at the box office.
If Vanga's earlier Hindi film Kabir Singh had opened at Rs 20.21 crore (Rs 202.1 million), Ranbir did thrice that by getting an opening at Rs 63.80 crore (Rs 638 million).
The momentum continued right through the weekend, with Saturday moving up to Rs 67.27 crore (Rs 672.7 million) and Sunday going higher at Rs 71 crore (Rs 710 million).
Making Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million) in a single day seems to be a new milestone, achieved only twice this year, besides Animal: Shah Rukh Khan got it both times, with Pathaan and Jawan.
This figure is sometimes the lifetime collections of many films.
With that, Animal has entered the Rs 200 Crore Club (Rs 2 billion).
With collections standing at Rs 202.07 crore (Rs 2.02 billion), the film has scored a double century in the quickest possible time.
The only other film to have ever done that is Jawan, which had collected Rs 206.06 crore (Rs 2.06 billion) in its first three days.
In fact, Animal could have enjoyed bigger collections. Since the run time of the film is three hours 21 minutes, there are lesser number of shows.
Then, there is the week's other release, Sam Bahadur, that took away a fair count of screens.
Also, Animal's A certificate has further reduced the audience. That said, it is this 'adults only' flavour that has been attracting the youth towards the film.
Meanwhile, Sam Bahadur is fighting to find a place for itself.
The Vicky Kaushal starrer knew what it was up against and still chose to arrive on this Friday alongside Animal.
In fact, the picture was clear even a fortnight ago that Animal would be a monster hit, but those associated with Sam Bahadur stuck to their release plans.
Still, Sam Bahadur held its own and take a start of Rs 6.25 crore (Rs 62.5 million) on Friday.
Since the reviews are good, Saturday saw a grow of Rs 9 crore (Rs 90 million) and Rs 11 crore (Rs 110 million) on Sunday.
The Meghna Gulzar directorial netted Rs 26.25 crore (Rs 262.5 million) in its opening weekend.
The weekend of Sam Bahadur is bigger than Vicky Kaushal's earlier 2023 release, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke (Rs 22.59 crore/Rs 225.9 million).
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.
