Will Zero or Thugs Of Hindostan manage to break the opening day or weekend record of Sanju?

By Fenil Seta -

July 3, 2018 - 11:01 AM IST

The verdict is out. The recent release Sanju, based on the controversial life of Sanjay Dutt, has emerged as a huge grosser and is on its way on becoming one of the biggest hits of Bollywood. There were expectations that this film is all set to open huge considering that it’s directed by blockbuster director Rajkumar Hirani, stars a popular actor like Ranbir Kapoor and also due to its subject. Yet, everyone was taken aback when it had an opening day collection totaling Rs. 34.75 crore! There were murmurs that the word of mouth is not that strong and hence, the collections on the subsequent days might not be huge. But all these myths were shattered as Sanju collected Rs. 38.60 crore on Saturday and then astonished industry and trade by collecting mind-boggling Rs. 46.71 crore on Sunday! The three-day total stands at Rs. 120.06 crore. It is the fourth highest weekend collections of all time and it’s a huge feat since it has been achieved during a non-holiday.

Will Zero or Thugs Of Hindostan manage to break the opening day or weekend record of Sanju?

The question now arises is whether any film this year would be able to break these enviable records set by Sanju. As of now, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Zero has a chance of smashing the opening day record. Directed by the massy and super-hit director of Tanu Weds Manu series, Zero features SRK as a dwarf and also stars Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif. The buzz has already been built due to SRK’s unique avatar and its quirky promos. It releases during the beneficial Christmas period [December 21]. As a result, it has a high chance of cruising past the Rs. 34.75 crore mark on Day 1, set by Sanju.

As for breaking the opening weekend record of Sanju, that can be achieved by Aamir Khan-starrer Thugs Of Hindostan. With Aamir as the leading actor, the expectations are already sky-high. Moreover, it’s a period action entertainer co-starring Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Amitabh Bachchan. A section of trade feels that it can be the year’s biggest grosser. However, it releases on Diwali day [November 7]. Majority of the moviegoers stay away from cinemas on this day due to the festivities. It’s only on the next day [November 8] that viewers would come out in hordes. As a result, it’ll miss creating an opening day record. Fortunately for the makers, Diwali falls on Wednesday. As a result, it has a five-day weekend and it can score big time and breaking the Rs. 120.06 record of Sanju should be a cakewalk.

Besides Zero and Thugs Of Hindostan, two more films also have a chance in upsetting Sanju’s record. The Akshay Kumar-starrer Gold releases on Independence Day [August 15], which falls on Wednesday. The buzz is there but not very high. However, the patriotic theme and excellent word of mouth can help the film achieve dizzying heights over the weekend. Lastly, the final film of the year is Simmba, starring Ranveer Singh in his massiest role till date. And it’s directed by the hit machine Rohit Shetty. The excitement is there and if the trailer does the trick, there’s no way why it can’t open better than Sanju on its first day. Earlier this year, a Tiger Shroff starrer [Baaghi 2] opened at mind-boggling Rs. 25.10 crore. As a result, Simmba can easily do much better considering the actor, director, genre and year-end period!

So which film will manage to topple the opening day and weekend records set by Sanju? Will it be Zero? Or Thugs Of Hindostan? Or Gold or Simmba? Or will all these film fail and Sanju hold these coveted records till the end of 2018? Do post your thoughts in the comments section!