Bollywood has witnessed a neck-to-neck race at the box office this Independence Day as three high-budget movies battled to top the charts. However, it was Stree 2 that emerged as the undisputed champion, delivering a jaw-dropping opening day collection of ₹64 crore net, making it the biggest Hindi opener of all time!
With Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, and Pankaj Tripathi in the cast, Stree 2 opened at cinemas in the previews with ₹8.50 crores on Independence Day and showed only an uptick. By the end of the first day, this movie had racked up ₹55.50 crore, which set up new benchmarks for 2024, outpacing Jawan, Pathaan, and Animal, solidifying Stree 2 as a powerhouse in the Bollywood box office race.
This horror-comedy has been loved for its smart writing, dark atmosphere, and the perfect scares-to-laughter ratio, continuing where it left off with the tremendous success of its prequel. Directed by Amar Kaushik, Stree 2 weaves in more complex layers of mystery and supernatural intrigue, leaving audiences thrilled. Rajkummar Rao’s nuanced act, Shraddha Kapoor’s mysterious act, and Pankaj Tripathi’s impeccable comic timing have contributed to the overwhelming response toward the film.
This three-way clash, also included Akshay Kumar’s Khel Khel Mein and John Abraham’s Vedaa; neither of these did anything to give Stree 2 a run for its money. Vedaa fared well and earned ₹6.5 crore on opening day. The film held up pretty well amidst stiff competition. Led by John Abraham, Vedaa gets into a grittier, action-driven narrative. Though not as monumental as those of Stree 2, Vedaa has been earning kudos for its intense action and John Abraham’s powerhouse act that gives this film a sound platform to pick up over the week.
Meanwhile, Khel Khel Mein was into a major downer with just ₹5.75 crore coming in on a national holiday when it was way behind in the race.
In contrast, Akshay Kumar’s Khel Khel Mein saw a flop even when it had big guns associated with it, featuring Fardeen Khan, Taapsee Pannu, and Vaani Kapoor. This film hardly collected ₹5 crore on its opening day. Considering that it was a genre comeback of sorts for the comedy king, too little magic happened in this case.
Khel Khel Mein joins the ranks of flops for Akshay Kumar; the third in this year alone. His earlier two films, Sarfira and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan have been major misfires as well. He has maintained a good pace about releases since the pandemic, but box office success has proved elusive for Kumar with only one hit in a release count of more than half-a-dozen films. Not even releasing on a national holiday could save Khel Khel Mein from joining a string of recent disappointments for the actor.
Although Khel Khel Mein sold more advance tickets initially, Vedaa did better with stronger spot bookings and broader appeal. However, both were big-handedly outsold by Stree 2, which made its mark at the box office.
Everyone is waiting to watch Stree 2 go even higher during the weekend, while the two other films need to move up a level if they are to be in this race. For now, it is the spooky comedy that sets the box office on fire, way ahead of the competition!
While Stree 2 continues to haunt the box office, it’s clear that no one can escape its spooky success!
