Two highly content-driven films Mission Mangal and Batla House released this Independence Day. While John Abraham's movie got a decent start, it is Akshay Kumar starrer that won the day 1 box office collection race.
Both Mission Mangal and Batla House are based on real life incidents, and are high on nationalistic feelings. However, it is the former that defeated John's film in the box office race on its opening day by a huge margin.
With huge buzz around it and a highly appreciated trailer, Mission Mangal witnessed massive occupancy at the theatres on Thursday. The film enjoyed an occupancy of around 65 percent in theatres across the country, registering a massive first day box office collection at the domestic market. It has in fact become Akshay's biggest opener of all time, beating the record of Gold, which had collected Rs 25 crore on its first day.
After a successful advance booking, Mission Mangal remained almost houseful in several multiplexes right from the morning shows. With such massive opening day response, the movie collected Rs 29.16 crore at the Indian box office on day 1.
"#MissionMangal takes a fantabulous start... #IndependenceDay holiday gives biz an additional boost... Multiplexes outstanding, mass circuits good... Emerges Akshay Kumar's biggest opener... Thu ₹ 29.16 cr. India biz," trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted.
On the other side, John's Batla House despite received positive response from critics, remained much low at the ticket counters as compared to Mission Mangal, but still witnessed a good start. The film witnessed an occupancy of around 35 percent across theatres, registering a box office collection of Rs 14.59 crore on its day 1.
"#BatlaHouse fares well on Day 1, although the numbers are affected due to the clash... Gathered momentum post noon onwards... #IndependenceDay holiday gave its biz additional push... Will need to score from Fri-Sun... Thu ₹ 14.59 cr. India biz," the trade analyst tweeted.
Certainly, numbers for both the films would have been bigger if there was no clash. The holiday of Independence Day gave a huge boost to both the films, and it will be interesting to see how these perform at the commercial circuits on Friday.
