BellBottom box office day 1: Akshay Kumar-starrer opens below expectations, makes less than Roohi

Akshay Kumar’s spy film BellBottom fell short of modest expectations at the box office. It reportedly made between ₹2.5-2.75 crore on its first day of release.

BellBottom arrives at a time when theatres across Maharashtra are closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, while other centres are operating at restricted capacity.

A BoxOfficeIndia report said that in this scenario, New Delhi has emerged as the film’s biggest market, as it is contributing 20% of the nationwide earnings. But numbers didn’t pick up in the evening, dashing hopes for a ₹3 crore opening day.

BellBottom is playing in fewer than 1000 theatres nationwide, and BoxOfficeIndia reported that it opened to between 15-20% occupancy. BellBottom is the first major film to release in theatres after the second wave of the pandemic.

But its opening day numbers are lower than those of Roohi and Mumbai Saga, which were released after theatres were allowed to operate at full capacity following the first wave. While Roohi made over ₹3 crore on its opening day, Mumbai Saga made ₹2.82 crore.

During this time, several films have been moved to streaming, while some big-ticket projects — like Akshay’s Sooryavanshi — have held on to theatre-only releases. Previously, Akshay Kumar’s Laxmii debuted directly on Disney+ Hotstar.

BellBottom was among the first major Bollywood films to be produced entirely during the pandemic. The cast and crew filmed in a bubble in Scotland last year. Ahead of the release, the actor had expressed concerns about its box office potential.

He told SpotboyE, “The business is going to be different because Maharashtra is 30% of the total all-India collection. I am left with only 70% (the rest of the country) and of that, it is only 50% occupancy expected. That means I am only left with 35% (of the entire collection that would have been possible if it was an all-India release). So out of that 35% we can take out 5 to 8%, because full house toh nahin rahega. So I am left with only around 27%. That’s the probable business. Now, in this scenario, if the movie does ₹30 crore business that means it is equivalent to ₹100 crore otherwise. If the movie does ₹50 crore then it equals ₹150 crore (under pre-pandemic circumstances). So that’s where it stands.”