Ranbir Kapoor’s ‘Animal’ beats ‘Jawan’ and ‘Pathaan’s’ ‘first Monday’ record
Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's "Animal" is generating attention for both positive and negative reasons. While some criticise the film for its misogyny and violence, others are embracing it, resulting in substantial box office success.
Following an impressive first weekend (Rs 201.5 crore), the film continued its success by acing the crucial Monday test. On the fourth day of release, the Ranbir Kapoor-led film garnered a remarkable total of Rs 39.90 crore in the domestic market, according to industry tracker Sacnilk. This brought the film's four-day total to Rs 241.43 crore.
The Monday collections for "Animal" surpass those recorded by this year's major blockbusters, including "Jawan" and "Pathaan."
While "Jawan" earned Rs 32.92 crore and "Pathaan" made Rs 26.50 crore on their first Mondays, "Animal" has outperformed them. Additionally, it surpassed the first Monday collections of Sunny Deol's "Gadar 2" (Rs 38.70 crore). Notably, only two films have had better Monday collections than "Animal" — "Tiger 3" (Rs 59.25 crore) and "Baahubali 2: The Conclusion" (Rs 40.25 crore). It's important to mention that Salman Khan's "Tiger 3" achieved this feat as it was a holiday release and debuted on a Sunday, making Monday only its second day in theaters.
On Monday, "Animal" achieved an overall Hindi occupancy of 48.92%, with Telugu and Tamil occupancies at 33.30% and 17.73%, respectively. As per the makers, until Sunday, the film had earned Rs 356 crore ($42 million) worldwide, solidifying its position as the biggest film globally over the first weekend, surpassing Ridley Scott's "Napoleon."
"Animal" was released alongside Meghana Gulzar's "Sam Bahadur," "Animal" easily outperformed it at the box office. The Vicky Kaushal-starrer military drama earned Rs 3.5 crore on Monday, bringing its total collection to Rs 29.05 crore.
Despite facing criticism, "Animal" is anticipated to dominate the ticket counters until Shah Rukh Khan's "Dunki" releases on December 21. Ashish Saksena, COO – Cinemas, BookMyShow, revealed that "Animal" has already sold over 4.5 million tickets on BookMyShow, stating, "Animal is proving to be a massive hit at the Box Office, witnessing fantastic sustenance and stellar excitement among Indian audiences across the length and breadth of the country, particularly in Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Pune."