The Kalees-directed action movie Baby John, starring Varun Dhawan, Wamiqa Gabbi, Keerthy Suresh, Jacky Shroff, and others, is expected to have flopped at the box office. Despite all hopes being high due to its big names and the enormous budget involved, the film could not get a hold on the audience’s minds. Now that the Sankranthi and Pongal releases are about to flood the theatres, the collection of Baby John is likely to add minimal amount to its total, which already is very meagre.
The Atlee and Murad Khetani-produced film is expected to wrap up its India run with a net collection of about Rs 37 crore (Rs 45 crore gross). The movie has earned around USD 1.65 million (approximately Rs 14 crore) abroad, taking the worldwide gross to around Rs 59 crore. Compared to other weak Dussehra releases of 2024, it ranks between Jigra (Rs 62 crore) and Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video (Rs 55 crore). Still, *Baby John* is the costliest among the three films, which stands at Rs 160 crore. Thus, the fact that its performance is quite unimpressive becomes all the more disappointing.
The film’s global theatrical share is expected to be around Rs 24 crore, which will barely cover its print and advertising expenses. Given its large budget and underwhelming performance, Baby John will incur substantial losses for its producers, as both theatrical and non-theatrical revenues combined will not recoup the investment.
Things had seemed quite promising for the movie, especially after the first promo and the introductory promo of Jacky Shroff, which seemed to have worked well. However, as the campaign progressed, nothing seemed to have worked out, including the taster cut of the film, songs, and trailer, resulting in a sharp drop in momentum. It did decent opening because of the Christmas holidays but, otherwise, dropped quite rapidly on the second day and was never back.
