Judwaa 2 to be the first release in September to enter Rs 100-cr club

Back in 1997, Salman Khan's Judwaa collected Rs 2.5 crore at the box office in its first weekend and twenty years later the same banner made Rs 76 crore in three days. Albeit, this time it wasn’t Salman as Prem and Raja. It was Varun Dhawan.

Reboot of David Dhawan’s 1997 release Judwaa, Judwaa 2 is a ray of hope to the box office, given most of the releases in the month hardly raked in any moolah. Having collected Rs 76 crore in the long weekend, this Sajid Nadiwala produced film will be the first September entrant to Bollywood’s coveted Rs 100 crore club.

While the audience was skeptical about whether Bollywood’s new blue-eyed boy could live up to the hype of the Salman Khan and Karishma Kapoor starrer Judwaa, Dhawan with his leading ladies Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu made good business at the box office.

Released in close to 3500 screens, the film made Rs 15 crore on its opening day followed by Rs 20 crore collection on Saturday and Rs 22 crore and Rs 18 crore on Sunday and Monday.

“The film should touch Rs 100 crore by Friday and since there is no big release this coming weekend, there is no competition for Judwaa, too, and it would remain in the priority list of must-watch movies for the audience,” said film trade analyst Atul Mohan.

Industry experts said the film would easily make up to Rs 125 crore at the box office in its full run.

According to Box Office India, a platform dedicated to reporting the box office collections of Bollywood releases, Judwaa 2 made close to Rs 7 crore in the Gulf, Rs 41.5 crore in the US and Canada market and Rs 1.2 crore in Australia in the first weekend.