Baby John, featuring Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jackie Shroff, and Rajpal Yadav, continues to underperform at the box office, with its opening weekend numbers not living up to expectations. Kalees-directed mass action drama is one that had much riding on it but seems to be heading towards a disappointing end.
The film, co-produced by Atlee Kumar, opened relatively well on Christmas Day, collecting ₹10.75 crore on Day 1. But the momentum soon fizzled out. Collections plummeted the next day, and the movie collected only ₹4.75 crore on Day 2. On Day 3 (Friday), the film’s earnings were down to ₹4 crore. This brings the net box office collections of Baby John to ₹19.50 crore in just three days of its run.
The film’s struggles are further compounded by the increasing dominance of other big releases like Pushpa 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King, both of which have been storming the box office. As a result, Baby John is already losing screens to these more successful films, and its box office prospects look bleak unless it sees a drastic improvement over the weekend.
The movie is a mixed bag of a review, marking Varun Dhawan’s entry into mass action. While the anticipation around the film was substantial, especially because of its star power and genre, audience reception has been lukewarm. One key factor that has contributed to its underperformance is that it carries a remake tag. The film is a Hindi remake of a popular South Indian movie, and the fact that the Hindi dubbed version is already available on streaming platforms has likely impacted its performance at the box office.
Going into its future, Baby John needs a big collections bounce in the weekend to pull back the film. The question remains as to how things are going to look from this position, though: after the strong competition, coupled with the general negative reaction to the movie.
The career of Varun Dhawan has everyone eyeing his future films like Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, No Entry 2, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, and Border 2. These films promise his fans a great return for the actor from this dud, and he looks sure to bounce back a bit more from this loss.
Day-Wise Collections of Baby John (India):
Day 1: ₹10.75 crore
Day 2: ₹4.75 crore
Day 3: ₹4 crore
Total: ₹19.50 crore (Net) in 3 days
The film is running in theaters now but with the ongoing box office battle, it needs a few miracles to stay in the race.
