Race 3 first-day box office collection: Salman Khan starrer starts good note, but can't beat TZH record

Director Remo D'Souza's Race 3 has opened to a good response at the Indian box office on the first day, but it may not beat the opening day collection record of superstar Salman Khan's Tiger Zinda Hai.

Race 3 is the third instalment in the Race film series, which is one of the hit Indian film franchises. The success of the previous films had generated a lot of hype for the latest instalment. On top of it, Salman Khan's association had doubled the curiosity and expectations. But the hype surrounding it was not up to the level of Sallu Miyan's previous films and it was clearly visible in its average advance booking.

The distributors released Race 3 in over 4,200 screens across the domestic market in a bid to cash in on Sallu mania and the Eid festival. It is the biggest screen count for a film in the Race franchise. But when compared to Salman's previous films, the makers opened its advance booking late (Tuesday), which ended up in average booking for its opening day. Trade analysts were sceptic about a big opening at the box office.

The Remo D'Souza-directed action thriller has opened to decent response with an average occupancy of 60 percent in the domestic market in the morning shows on Friday. Race 3 ran to packed houses in some centres across the country.

Trade analyst Girish Johar tweeted, "So #Race3 is opened to an EXCELLENT start of around 60% on a wide release, all across, in early shows !!! Early reports are mixed & #Eid being tomorrow ... fingers crossed!"  Read: Race 3 Review | Critics Verdict | Viewers Review

However, the movie has received a mixed response from the audiences. The trade analysts feel that the word of mouth may affect its collection at the domestic box office in the afternoon and evening shows of the first day.

Taran Adarsh tweeted, "#Race3 rests on Salman's brawny shoulders... Eid holidays + brand value attached to the film [#Race] are huge plusses... But the biggest of films need a strong foundation [content] to stand tall... Unfortunately, #Race3 lacks that power!"

As per early trends, Race 3 is likely to collect around Rs 25 crore net at the Indian box office on the first day of its release. It would definitely beat the opening day records of Race and Race 2 and it will also become the biggest opener of 2018, beating Baaghi 2 (Rs 25.10 crore) and Padmaavat (Rs 19 crore). But it will not be able to beat the record of Salman Khan's last outing Tiger Zinda Hai (Rs 33.75 crore).