It was a bumper Diwali weekend for cinema chains which saw their cash registers ringing thanks to two big ticket festive releases sparkling at the box office. Expected to be a big clash, both Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Singham Again scored well, crossing the ₹220 crore-mark in terms of cumulative net box office collections during the Friday-Sunday period.

Both movies entered the ₹100 crore-club individually within the first three days of their release. Given the strong line-up ahead, analysts and experts said that the December quarter is expected to be the strongest this fiscal for the industry in a year which had been a mixed bag so far.

Terming it as a “Dhamakedar Diwali Weekend”, trade analyst Taran Adarsh in a post on X stated: “SinghamAgain and #BhoolBhulaiyaa3 - the two biggies released this #Diwali - achieve a remarkable combined opening weekend biz of over ₹200 crore, which is humongous.”

According to estimates by Adarsh, comedy-horror flick Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 which opened with net collections of ₹36.60 crore garnered a little over ₹110 crore in the first three days at the domestic box office.

Action flick Singham Again had a slight edge opening with a collection of ₹43.70 crore on Friday. It is estimated to have crossed the ₹122-crore mark in the first three days as per early estimates by some analysts and trade experts.

Karan Taurani, Senior Vice-President, Elara Capital told businessline, “I think the box-office collections during the Diwali weekend have been largely in line with over ₹220 crore in terms of combined collections. Overall, Q3 is shaping up to be a strong quarter for the industry.”

Re-igniting Magic

Multiplex players said they witnessed strong occupancies for both films with many house-full shows through the weekend. “We were thrilled by the overwhelming response to this Diwali weekend’s releases, which truly brought audiences together in celebration. Singham Again, featuring Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, and a special cameo by Salman Khan, delivered high-octane thrills, while Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 with Vidya Balan, Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri, and Kartik Aaryan struck a chord with its blend of suspense and nostalgia,” said Sanjeev Kumar Bijli- Executive Director, PVR INOX Ltd, who said the movies had reignited the magic of cinema.

Abneesh Roy, Executive Director, Nuvama Institutional Equities noted that both movies have crossed the ₹100-crore mark despite the clash at box office. “Typically, in a high-profile clash such as this, one film takes off and the other lags behind. In this case, both movies are competing with each other. Although we remain concerned over slowdown in urban consumption, we expect both films to pick up over the weekend as there is lack of competition in terms of big Hindi movie content,” he added.

Upcoming movies include Kanguva, Gladiator-2, the Sabarmati Report, Dhadak 2 and Moana 2.

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