‘The Kerala Story 2’ Box Office Collection Day 6: Film Earns Rs 20 Cr, Less Than One-Third Of Its Predecessor
‘The Kerala Story 2’ struggles at the box office, earning Rs 20.15 crore in six days and trailing far behind the blockbuster performance of its 2023 predecessor.
‘The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond’, directed by Kamakhya Narayan Singh, has struggled to match the impact of its 2023 predecessor ‘The Kerala Story’, which was helmed by Sudipto Sen and even earned him the National Award for Best Director. The sequel, produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah under Sunshine Pictures, has so far collected less than one-third of what the original film managed during the same period. The 2023 Hindi movie turned out to be a sleeper hit, notwithstanding its controversies.
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On Wednesday (day 6) of its theatrical run, ‘The Kerala Story 2’ earned Rs 3.50 crore at the domestic box office, as per trade portal Sacnilk. This marked a slight dip from Tuesday’s (day 5) earnings of Rs 4 crore. Tuesday’s figure itself represented a notable 60 per cent jump compared to Monday’s (day 4) collection of Rs 2.5 crore, largely due to the Holi holiday boost. The film experienced its sharpest decline earlier in the week on Monday, when collections fell by 47 per cent from Sunday’s (day 3) earnings of Rs 4.75 crore.
Earlier, the film had shown a rise on Saturday (day 2), collecting Rs 4.65 crore, after opening with just Rs 0.75 crore on Friday. According to Sacnilk, the modest opening was partly due to the film receiving clearance from the Kerala High Court only on Friday evening, a day after the court had temporarily stayed its release because of the film’s controversial subject matter.
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After six days in theatres, ‘The Kerala Story 2’ has collected a total of Rs 20.15 crore at the Indian box office. Its theatrical footprint has also begun shrinking. After losing 350 shows on Tuesday, the film dropped another 437 shows on Wednesday, bringing its total number of shows across India down to 3,055. In terms of occupancy, the film performed best in Chennai with around 30 per cent occupancy, followed by Ahmedabad at 25.75 per cent, Surat at 20 per cent, Bengaluru at 14.50 per cent and Jaipur at 13.50 per cent.
The sequel’s opening six-day earnings are significantly lower than those of the original ‘The Kerala Story’. The first film had crossed Rs 68 crore within its first six days and went on to enjoy a strong theatrical run for seven weeks. It eventually closed with a domestic total of Rs 241.74 crore, including Rs 239.05 crore from its Hindi version and Rs 2.69 crore from the dubbed Telugu release.
Made on a budget of Rs 15 crore, the original film earned more than 16 times its production cost in India. By comparison, ‘The Kerala Story 2’ has been mounted on a larger budget of Rs 30 crore. The sequel still needs to earn around Rs 10 crore more to recover its production cost, and given its current box office trajectory, reaching that mark appears challenging.
However, the film may receive some breathing room at the box office as there are no major theatrical releases scheduled this Friday. In fact, the next big release will only arrive on March 19 with Aditya Dhar’s spy thriller ‘Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge’, starring Ranveer Singh, which will release across five Indian languages during the festive window of Eid, Ugadi and Gudi Padwa.
Unlike the first film that focused on Kerala, ‘The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond’ expands its narrative scope and follows the stories of three women from different parts of India who become victims of abuse after marrying outside their religion.
