Varun Dhawan’s much-anticipated film Baby John faced a disappointing start at the Indian box office, earning only Rs 12.5 crore nett on its opening day, Christmas Day. This collection was significantly lower than what Pushpa 2 achieved on its 21st day and even less than the earnings of Mufasa: The Lion King on its sixth day in theatres.
As per trade data from Sacnilk, Pushpa 2: The Rule, led by Allu Arjun, continued its remarkable performance, earning Rs 19.75 crore nett on Day 21. Out of this, Rs 15 crore nett came from the Hindi version alone, surpassing the opening day collection of Baby John. To date, Pushpa 2 has grossed over Rs 1,109 crore nett in India, with the Hindi version contributing a dominant Rs 716.65 crore nett.
Meanwhile, Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, capitalized on the Christmas holidays to boost its box office collection. The animated film grossed Rs 14.25 crore nett on its sixth day, surpassing Baby John’s Day 1 earnings. So far, Mufasa has earned Rs 67.85 crore nett in India.
Directed by Kalees and produced by Atlee, Baby John also stars Keerthy Suresh, Jackie Shroff, and Wamiqa Gabbi. The film saw a modest 24.97% occupancy in Hindi on its opening day. Key regions like Delhi-NCR and Mumbai showed weak performance, with the former recording 25.75% occupancy from 1,046 shows and the latter at 26.25% from 801 shows.
Varun Dhawan, who made his comeback as the lead after a two-year break, was last seen in the 2022 film Bhediya, which opened with Rs 7.48 crore nett and ultimately grossed Rs 66.65 crore nett in India.