'Baby John' has no takers, loses 2.5K shows after Week-1
What's the story
Varun Dhawan's latest release Baby John has failed to draw audiences since its Christmas release. After opening with a collection of ₹11.25cr, the film witnessed a major drop in earnings on its second day with just ₹4.75cr collected.
Made on a budget of ₹160cr, the film is now expected to settle at around ₹60cr, trade experts say.
On January 1, it earned just ₹2.75cr across India according to early estimates by industry tracker Sacnilk.
Show reduction
'Baby John' witnessed a significant drop in theater shows
Directed by Kalees, Baby John witnessed an overall occupancy of 22.38% on January 1 with approximately 1,800 shows across India. However, within a week, the number of shows was slashed by 2,500.
This poor performance has sparked speculation that it may end up being one of Dhawan's lowest-earning films.
The film also stars Keerthy Suresh and a special cameo by Salman Khan. So far, Baby John's total collection stands at ₹35.4cr nett in India.
Box office comparison
'Baby John' underperformed against other films
Pushpa 2, starring Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna, beat Baby John despite being in theaters for 28 days.
On Wednesday, Pushpa 2 collected ₹13.15cr (₹9.5cr from its Hindi version). The Sukumar directorial has an insane total nett collection of ₹1,184.65cr in India.
Likewise, Disney's family entertainer Mufasa: The Lion King drew more audiences than Baby John collecting ₹9.4cr on Wednesday with ₹3.5cr from the Hindi-speaking market; after 13 days of release its total nett collection in India stands at ₹122.1cr.
Career impact
'Baby John' marked Dhawan's return to big screen
Baby John marked Dhawan's return to the big screen after his 2022 film Bhediya, a horror-comedy that earned ₹94.91cr against a budget of ₹60cr.
He was briefly seen in the highest-earning Hindi film of 2024, Stree 2 and also appeared in Bawaal which was released directly on Prime Video.
His next appearance will be in Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari. However, with Baby John already fading out of theaters, it's likely to become the lowest-grossing film in his career.