Ajay Devgn’s period sports drama ‘Maidaan’ released for select paid previews on April 10, and followed it up with a full-fledged release on April 11 on the occasion of Eid. However, despite Ajay leading the film and earning rave reviews, the film struggled to find takers on its opening day. It collected Rs 2.6 crore and later merely Rs 4.50 crore, taking the day one collections to Rs 7.10 crore, as per estimates posted by Sacnilk.
Clearly, the low numbers weren’t as impressive for an Ajay Devgn holiday release, and the occupancy throughout the day remained below 16 percent. The opening day collections were almost 50 percent less than that of Ajay’s recent releases. While his supernatural thriller ‘Shaitaan’ collected Rs 14.75 crore, ‘Drishyam 2’ minted Rs 15.38 crore on day one. Even his other actioner ‘Bholaa’, which was released in March last year, witnessed an opening of Rs 11.20 crore.
The Amit R Sharma directorial might revive itself on Saturday and Sunday, but it has to now hit double digits in the next two days to gain momentum at the box office. The film is also battling it out at the box office with the other Eid release, ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’, starring Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff. Ali Abbas Zafar’s film collected Rs 15.50 crore. Both films now have to hold strong at the box office.
While ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ is reportedly made on a budget of around Rs 350 crore, it is said that the landing cost of ‘Maidaan’–after years of delay–amounts to Rs 250 crore.
