Akshay Kumar’s Welcome To The Jungle has started its box office journey with a slow opening on its first day. The film recorded around 10 to 15 per cent occupancy during the morning shows, which is lower than what many expected for a film from the popular Welcome franchise. However, the film had already held preview shows on the previous night, and those screenings reportedly recorded around 25 per cent occupancy. Because many eager fans watched the film during the previews, it may have slightly affected the first day morning collections.
The real picture is expected to become clearer as the day progresses. Normally, afternoon shows perform at a similar level or sometimes even lower than morning shows. In this case, trade observers believe Welcome To The Jungle could see better occupancy during the later shows because today is a holiday and the early audience response from the preview screenings has been largely positive. If positive word of mouth continues to spread, more people may choose to watch the film in the evening and night shows.
Akshay Kumar’s previous release, Bhooth Bangla, earned Rs. 3.60 crore from preview shows and collected around Rs. 12 crore on its opening day. Welcome To The Jungle will now be looking to perform better than that figure. Trade expectations suggest the film should ideally collect more than Rs. 15 crore on its first day, especially because it has the advantage of a holiday release.
Considering the popularity of the Welcome franchise, many expected the film to open at around Rs. 40 crore or more. However, the initial numbers suggest that it has fallen short of those expectations. Some trade experts believe the film’s style leans more towards spoof and parody comedy instead of the broad family entertainment that made the earlier Welcome films so successful. Even so, if the film manages to hold steady over the weekend with the support of positive audience reactions, it still has a chance to perform well at the box office.
The film is also facing competition from Carry On Jatta 4, which released on the same day. While that film has opened better, reports suggest its opening is still below the high standards set by the previous films in the franchise, all of which were major box office successes.