There was a lot of hype around the Diwali releases -- Akshay Kumar's Ram Setu and Ajay Devgn's Thank God.
Within exhibition and distribution circles in the Hindi film industry, both films were expected to bring in cheer due to the festive season attracting audiences all over again.
After all, last Diwali, Akshay's Sooryavanshi had opened theatres while Ajay's Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior was the last biggie of 2020 before theatres closed down due to COVID.
Plus, Thank God had Sidharth Malhotra returning after Shershaah.
But the collections turned out to be underwhelming as both films were nowhere close to the expectations one had from them.
Akshay can take solace from the fact that Ram Setu will emerge his biggest grosser amongst all his theatrical releases of 2022.
While he was seen in the OTT release Cuttputtli, theatrically, he released Bachchhan Paandey, Samrat Prithviraj and Rakshabandhan, with Samrat Prithviraj netting Rs 68.05 crore (Rs 680.5 million) at the box office.
The manner in which Ram Setu is going, it will comfortably surpass that number as it already stands at Rs 56.70 crore (Rs 567 million)
Thank God has unfortunately proven to be a non-starter.
It did have an opening of Rs 8.10 crore (Rs 81 million) nand there have been Ajay Devgn films in the past which have opened in this range but still ended up being a Rs 100 Crore Club hit (Singham, Raid, De De Pyaar De).
But the feat did not repeat itself with this Indra Kumar directed film as in the first six days of its release, the overall score reads a mere Rs 29.25 crore. (Rs 292.5 million) It will not even hit a half century.
Sidharth Malhotra would be disappointed too. While one waits to see which film he brings to theatres next, Devgn should score well with his next, Drishyam 2.
The man who will have the brightest smile is Rishab Shetty, whose Kantara is just not slowing down.
Just like Pushpa, which saw consistent footfalls, Kantara is seeing a similar run at about Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) non a daily basis. It has touched Rs 42.85 crore (Rs 428.5 million) and will eventually hit half a billion rupees.
Another film that may hit a half century is Black Adam.
The Hollywood superhero movie is a non-franchise product and still, the numbers came on the opening day and post that.
It has Rs 42.50 crore* (Rs 425 million) in its kitty already.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.
