Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR‘s War 2 has finally hit ₹300 crore at the worldwide box office. The film reached this milestone in seven days. To some, this may be an impressive feat—a big number reached in a relatively short time. But YRF Spy Universe’s previous two films (Tiger 3 and Pathaan) reached this milestone in five days and three days, respectively. And War 2 is rumoured to cost more than them.
This, coupled with the film’s slowdown in collections over the weekdays, has raised fears that War 2 may not be able to break even. We analyse the film’s box office performance so far and deduce whether War 2 is a hit or a flop.
War 2 box office performance
In eight days at the box office, Ayan Mukerji‘s War 2 has earned ₹204 crore net ( ₹243 crore gross) at the domestic box office. Its international earnings are roughly $8 million (around ₹70 crore). This means that in its first week, War 2 has earned ₹313 crore gross worldwide. This is the lowest worldwide gross for any YRF Spy Universe film after eight days. Both War (2019) and Ek Tha Tiger (2012) earned a little over ₹320 crore. If adjusted for inflation, these figures would be much higher today. War 2 pales in comparison with Pathaan, the most successful YRF Spy Universe film, which had earned a staggering ₹668 crore worldwide in its first 8 days, en route to a ₹1000+ crore lifetime haul.
That ₹1000 crore mark was considered to be the goal for War 2. The film is a legacy sequel, featuring two stars from different industries. Hrithik Roshan’s War was a ₹475-crore hit. Jr NTR gave a ₹1200-crore blockbuster in RRR, and followed it up with Devara, which also earned over ₹400 crore. Their combination was expected to work wonders, helping the film do well in pan-India. But it hasn’t panned out that way. War 2 earned ₹5 crore net on day 8, which means the film is pretty much on its final legs. It should run its course in two weeks, if not earlier. Touching ₹400 crore looks challenging right now.
Is War 2 a hit or a flop?
Sources say that War 2 has a landing cost of ₹400 crore for Yash Raj Studios. This includes the production budget and marketing costs. To be called a hit, War 2 would need to earn over ₹400 crore in net domestic collections. The film currently stands at ₹204 crore, earning in single-digit numbers each day. Its final haul is expected to be around ₹260-270 crore, quite a distance from what it needs.
War 2’s Telugu disaster
War 2 was released in Hindi and Telugu, as well as Tamil. The Hindi and Telugu versions were expected to be the moneymakers for YRF. The Hindi version has done decently well, reaching ₹150 crore net in India in its first 8-day week. But the Telugu version has fallen flat. After earning ₹22.75 crore on opening day, its earnings have plummeted rapidly, reaching under ₹1 crore per day by day 8. A Great Andhra report has claimed that this underperformance has led to YRF compensating Naga Vamsi, who bought the film’s distribution rights for the Telugu states.
So far, it appears that War 2 will be an underperformer. But will it manage to avoid the ‘flop’ tag and end up being just ‘below average’? That remains to be seen.
