Earlier, it was common to hear about films taking time to warm up in cinemas and showing their box office strength only after a few weeks. But as screen counts increased and word of mouth began spreading rapidly through social media, that window began to shrink. Until recently, it was believed that the fate of a film was sealed over the weekend. In other words, if a film failed to trend well in the first three days, there was little chance of it springing a surprise later. However, in the last 6-7 months, two films have gone against the tide in this regard – Dhurandhar (2025) and the recently released Main Vaapas Aaunga (2026).
Dhurandhar emerged as Bollywood’s biggest hit before being surpassed by its sequel, Dhurandhar The Revenge. However, prior to its release, the excitement around the film was present, but not at a frenzied level. It opened at Rs. 28.60 crores and went on to earn Rs. 33.10 crores and Rs. 44.80 crores on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
One expected the film to fall 40-50% below its Friday numbers on Monday. However, that didn’t happen. On its fourth day, it collected only around Rs. 4.30 crores less than its opening day collections. On Tuesday, the film earned almost the same as it did on Day 1. And on Wednesday, a miracle happened. The film collected Rs. 29.20 crores, which was higher than its Day 1 figure. Thursday was even better, and in Week 2, the film started behaving like a true-blue blockbuster. There’s no denying that the Monday and Tuesday performance made it clear that the film is set for a long, successful run. But the miracle jump on Wednesday was like an icing on the cake.
A similar trend was seen in the case of Main Vaapas Aaunga, albeit at much lower levels. The film had a poor opening of Rs. 1.28 crore. It needed a 100% jump on Saturday and Sunday. Sadly, that didn’t happen as the film collected Rs. 1.85 crores and Rs. 2.50 crores on its second and third day, respectively. There were fears that the film would crash in the weekdays.
On Monday, the film held strongly as it collected Rs. 1.15 crores. On Tuesday, it jumped to Rs. 1.60 crores due to discounted ticket rates. Ideally, the film should have dropped the next day, Wednesday. Instead, Main Vaapas Aaunga collected Rs. 1.80 crores on its sixth day and then earned Rs. 2.28 crores on the last day of the week. In its second week, it is all set to collect more than the first week.
An eye-opener for the exhibition sector
It is common practice among exhibitors to remove or reduce shows of films that are not performing as expected. In many cases, this is justified, especially when exhibitors cut down shows of films that are genuinely not trending well and replace them with movies that are bringing in audiences. However, this ‘Wednesday effect’ witnessed by Dhurandhar and Main Vaapas Aaunga makes the situation a little tricky for theatres going forward.
It proves that there can be two types of underperforming films. The first is the kind that is not enjoying good word of mouth, either on social media or on the ground. The second is the kind that may have started slow but is making noise and generating tremendous excitement among those who have ventured out to watch it.
This second category of films needs genuine encouragement from exhibitors. They need to realize that even if a film doesn’t perform strongly over the weekend, it may still spring a surprise during the weekdays. Exhibitors also need to be smart enough to separate PR-generated fake perception from the actual perception of the film among the audience. Once they realize that a film has worked its magic, they should ensure that its shows are not drastically reduced. Instead, it would be wise to wait for a few more days, even during the weekdays, to ascertain the film’s true fate.
This seems to be a post-pandemic phenomenon, where word of mouth is spreading, but arguably not as fast as once believed. Perhaps, the audience is taking its time to find out whether a film is worth spending a bomb on. Only when viewers are convinced do they venture out to cinemas. But the beauty of this trend is that once a film picks up, it soon enters the ‘FOMO’ zone. It becomes a must-watch for viewers as their social media timelines and conversations with like-minded people begin revolving around that film, and they don’t want to miss out on it. Obsession can also be said to fall in the same ‘FOMO’ category.
To conclude
Hence, the success of Dhurandhar and Main Vaapas Aaunga should be studied closely by the exhibition sector. Of course, not every film that opens slow will enjoy such a turnaround. But if a film is carrying genuine appreciation and if the chatter is real, then reducing its shows hurriedly after the first weekend can prove to be a mistake. The audience today is unpredictable and, at times, takes a little longer to step out. For exhibitors, the challenge now is not just to track weekend numbers, but to read the mood of the moviegoers. After all, as these two films have shown, the real picture can sometimes emerge not on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, but only by Wednesday.
More Pages: Main Vaapas Aaunga Box Office Collection , Main Vaapas Aaunga Movie Review
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