After a string of socially relevant films and fans eagerly awaiting it, Akshay Kumar is back with comedy. He returned to comedy in Priyadarshan’s “Bhooth Bangla” and now the third installment of “Welcome” is set to release this Friday. Based on advance bookings, “Welcome To the Jungle” is expected to open better than “Bhooth Bangla”. Advance bookings for the film were slow at first, but picked up significantly closer to release. According to Sacnilk, “Welcome to the Jungle” has sold around 53,000 premiere tickets in advance as of 2 pm on Thursday, less than a day before the film’s release, and has grossed around Rs 126 crore at the box office. Sales from paid previews and opening weekend for the film were also encouraging. Ticket sales on BookMyShow were reportedly growing at a rate of nearly 4,000 an hour on Thursday afternoon, indicating growing interest among moviegoers.With this, one can expect higher pre-order numbers ahead of Thursday night, but largely, the film will depend on in-person bookings after word-of-mouth spreads once reviews begin on Friday morning. A first-day box office of over 100 million rupees is good for the film, which was even predicted by industry insiders. The paid preview is likely to contribute Rs 3-35 crore towards the opening day. But the film will eventually be able to see growth through positive reviews, which should be reflected in Saturday and Sunday’s numbers. Akshay Kumar’s last film Bhooth Bangla opened with Rs 16 crore at the box office, including Rs 375 crore from paid previews. Going by current trends, Welcome to the Jungle seems to be in a good position to at least match that number, and potentially easily surpass it.The film also has the advantage of a relatively tidy release window. Currently, “Cocktail 2” and Imtiaz Ali’s “Main Vaapas Aaunga” are playing in theaters, and if “Welcome to the Jungle” receives critical acclaim and gives them competition, the box office collections of both the films may decline. It has been seen how the sales of “Main Vaapas Aaunga” grew through positive word-of-mouth, while “Cocktail 2” crossed Rs 100 crore at the global box office on Thursday. Will these two movies still hold up even if Welcome to the Jungle is released? Time will tell. But for now, those movies are sure to be shown in smaller numbers, as new movies opening on Friday will have more screen time. Welcome to the Jungle is a crazy comedy adventure film with a huge cast including Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Arshad WarsiParesh Rawal, Jackie Shroff, Tashar Kapoor, Jacqueline FernandezLala Dutta and Disha Patani,etc.
