Biggest Bollywood event film of the year, War 2, is set to arrive this Thursday. The film has been in news for the longest time and arrives 6 years after War released, took a bumper opening and then went on to enter Rs. 300 Crore Club. Of course, expectations from second in the franchise and sixth in the spy universe have been massive. Moreover, with a Thursday release that leads to Independence Day weekend, one expects great moolah to come in as well.

However, advance booking so far suggests that the film will open lesser than expectations. The logical box office performance should have been something in the range of Rs. 50-55 crores again. After all, War had opened had Rs. 53.35 crores back in time and now with higher ticket prices and more screens at its disposal, at least that number should have been matched. Yes, it’s more and more difficult to get audiences to theatres today and then the film is not even arriving straight on a national holiday (as was the case with War which came on 2nd October). Still, all factors combined together, it balances out.

Some may attribute the hype to be diluted due to the parallel release of Coolie but that’s not the case really. The Rajinikanth started is seeing a very small release in the Hindi version and hence there is hardly any impact. On the other hand, presence of NTR means that south has more market than a solo Hrithik starrer. So, if at all there should have been any impact, it had to be more positive.

So far, the film seems on track for Rs. 35 crores opening and even that would be good if looked at from standalone perspective. Also, spot booking could help it cover some distance and take it closer to Rs. 40 crores. However, what matters eventually is word of mouth to be positive so that the Ayan Mukherjee directed action thriller ends up covering a much larger distance.

More Pages: War 2 Box Office Collection