Trade expects Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan to BREAK Baahubali 2’s record at the box office and emerge as the BIGGEST non-holiday opener ever

It rarely happens that every trade expert and exhibitor is all smiles and optimistic, more so post-pandemic.

Khateja Qureshi | Published On: Jan, 20, 2023 | 07:06 AM

Trade expects Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan to BREAK Baahubali 2’s record at the box office and emerge as the BIGGEST non-holiday opener ever

It rarely happens that every trade expert and exhibitor is all smiles and optimistic, more so post-pandemic. But thanks to Pathaan, the excitement is at an all-time high. It releases on January 25 and though the advance has barely opened, everyone we spoke to is confident that the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer will take a flying start.

Trade veteran Taran Adarsh said, “Pathaan’s day 1 will be historic. It’s all set to take a fantabulous, earth-shattering opening. The day 1 number will be a shocker in a good sense. People will be zapped. The kind of craze this film has generated, no film has managed to do so in the recent past. The last such film I can think of is KGF – Chapter 2 (2022). Even War (2019) had such excitement lekin iss baar War se zyada craze hai.”

He further said, “I am expecting a Rs. 40 crore plus day 1. It can go beyond that as well depending on the screen count and the number of shows.”

When asked if Pathaan can open at Rs. 50 crores, he replied, “Yes. It can happen. Don’t rule out any possibility.”

Raj Bansal, the owner of Entertainment Paradise in Jaipur, excitedly said, “It’ll have the biggest non-holiday opening ever. Its first day collections will be in the range of Rs. 45-50 crores. The craze is unprecedented. Interestingly, last week, there was not so much craze. But with each passing hour, it’s going higher and higher.”

Until now, Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion (2017) holds the record of being the biggest non-holiday opener, as it collected Rs. 41 crores on the day of release. If Raj Bansal’s prediction comes true, Pathaan can break this record and that would surely be a huge feat.