You can’t go near the box office numbers for Cocktail 2 without the debate starting up. Back home, the one from Shahid, Kriti and Rashmika is making its way to the end of its run, while the rest of the world is having a field day with the totals. It’s a hard line to draw, and that’s what has the room abuzz.
The crowd has been in on the easygoing vibe of the movie, but the trade side of things has been less kind. You had your early run, sure, but in India the rom-com doesn’t have much left in the tank. Put it all together and you have a fine milestone for Shahid in his post-pandemic work, at least from a distance.
India box office turns soft
The trackers are telling a story of a 75 per cent slide from the first week, which is as good a sign as any of a weak hold. We are at Rs 80.30 crore in gross after two weeks in India, and the finish is in plain view.
All signs point to the film wrapping up its Indian stint at around Rs 85-90 crore nett. In the third week we saw Rs 16.30 crore come in, with a Thursday of just Rs 1 crore. If you listen to the trade, even Main Vaapas Aaunga put up better in its third week, so the deceleration is no secret.
Worldwide, a very different story
Change the lens and the numbers tell you something else. In 13 days, Cocktail 2 has put up Rs 151.13 crore in total. That is made up of Rs 111.16 crore from here and Rs 40.15 from outside, enough to make it one of the top dogs of the year.
It puts this Homi Adajania effort in the top four for Bollywood films globally. It has also put Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Ji in the rear-view mirror to be Shahid’s biggest earner since the pandemic, and the first to get over the Rs 150 crore mark in that time.
The ranking battle is heating up
Don’t think it will be an unchallenged rise, though. Welcome to the Jungle is on the prowl and should pass the rom-com by the weekend. Then you have Alia Bhatt’s Alpha coming in with some heat of its own, which will test the holds in the later part of the run.
Why the trade is divided
Talk to people on the ground and they’ll be blunt. There are those who say you have to factor in some outside influences on the advances; strip that away and the true numbers don’t look as rosy. By that logic, you could call the India result a non-starter, no matter how it looks from abroad.
And then there are the comps. On paper, it has done better than Pati Patni Aur Woh Do or Hai Jawaani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. But when you see the kind of week-on-week drop a star vehicle like this has had, you start to wonder about the staying power.
In short, here is where we stand:
– Two weeks in, the India cume is at Rs 80.30 crore gross
– Week three brought in Rs 16.30 crore (Rs 1 crore on a Thursday)
– The 13-day worldwide sum is Rs 151.13 crore
– We are looking at an India close of Rs 85-90 crore nett
What it means for moviegoers now
If you were to let the word-of-mouth guide you, the trend in India is to not put it off too long, or you might as well wait for digital. Of course, if you are a fan of the trio, there is still a certain pull to be in the theatre for it.
Homi Adajania put this one out on 19th June as a sort of successor to the 2012 original with Saif, Deepika and Diana. It has some of the same modern romance to it, and that was part of the reason for the early interest.
From here on out, it is simple. The domestic side is in its final furlong with a close in the Rs 85-90 crore range. But with the overseas show and the Rs 151.13 crore tag, the film will still be in the papers, even if the Indian run is up before some would like.
