'War 2' final worldwide box office collection: Is the Hrithik Roshan-NTR Jr starrer a HIT or FLOP?
The Spy Universe has been Bollywood's most hyped franchise in the last decade, regardless of whether they have managed to live up to that hype or not. War 2, sequel to the 2019 blockbuster War, released on the Independence Day weekend this year, thereby clashing with Rajinikanth's Coolie.
Despite having Hrithik Roshan and another star in NTR Jr, War 2 couldn't generate the buzz of its predecessor and it didn't help that Tiger 3 had caused extreme saturation to the Spy Universe concept. The War 2 promos and songs didn't have the x-factor either, and this told on the initial collections of the film.
The addition of NTR Jr meant that Yash Raj Films were also banking on the film to do tremendous business in the Telugu states. The distributors also bought the film at costs on par with a straight Telugu biggie, hoping that NTR Jr and the War sequel hype would do the trick for them. Unfortunately for them, that didn't happen.
War 2 had an opening day of Rs 28 crore nett in India, an underwhelming figure for a film that should have done a minimum of Rs 30 crore nett if not Rs 35 crore. Mind you, these are times when a Bollywood biggie featuring an A-list star should be regularly breaching the Rs 40 crore nett figure on Day 1.
The second day saw a big jump but that was expected as it was a national holiday (August 15). With collections in the range of Rs 45 crore nett, there was hope that film was finally seeing a big upward trend. With Independence Day falling on Friday, there was potential for the weekend to do a cumulative Rs 100 crore nett.
However, the film's numbers on Saturday and Sunday were shocking to say the least. There was a fall of more than 40 percent from Friday on Saturday, suggesting that the film's acceptance levels were bleak. There wasn't any growth on Sunday either and once that happened, the writing was on the wall.
War 2 crashed on Monday with numbers below Rs 7 crore nett, leaving the trade shell-shocked. For a film that was targetting Rs 300 crore nett in India if not Rs 400 crore nett, even Rs 200 crore nett was now out of question. Eventually, the film ended with collections of Rs 176 crore nett in India. The Telugu version added another Rs 56 crore nett but left the distributors with huge losses in the Telugu states.
Overseas, the film became the first Spy Universe film to not breach the $10 million mark. The collections ended at $9.51 million (approximately Rs 83 crore).
War 2 box office collection details:
India nett (all versions): Rs 235 crore
India gross (all versions): Rs 285 crore
Overseas gross (all versions): Rs 83 crore
Total worldwide gross: Rs 369 crore
War 2 budget economics and verdict:
Budget: Rs 300-400 crore (estimated)
India theatrical rights: Rs 250 crore
India theatrical share: Rs 128 crore
Overseas theatrical rights: Rs 101 crore
Overseas theatrical share: Rs 37 crore
Verdict: DISASTER (due to high costs and rights)
****** [Data is compiled from independent sources linked to distributors and theater owners. This website doesn't take responsibility for the authenticity of these numbers]
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