2.0 box office predictions: The Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar film will beat Thugs of Hindostan’s opening, say experts

Rajinikanth’s upcoming film 2.0 is being helmed as one of the most expensive films ever made in the history of cinema. The film marks the return of the robot named Chitti from the 2010 film Enthiran (Robot in Hindi). While the south superstar plays the double role of Dr Vaseegaran and Chitti, the film also features Akshay Kumar as the antagonist and Amy Jackson as the female lead. Even before its release, a report in Bollywood Hungama suggests that the makers have already made deals worth Rs 370 crore in satellite rights, digital rights and more. Trade analysts are confident that the film will easily beat this year’s record of Rs 50 crore opening, registered by the last big release Thugs of Hindostan.

Directed by Shankar and made on a budget estimated to be around Rs 550 crore, 2.0 is the solo release of the week as it hits the theatres on Thursday, November 29, 2018. Talking about the prospects of the film at the box office, Komal Nahta says, “I am hoping that the second part lives up to the first part and is a bigger success because the trailer has been definitely liked by the people.” Talking about the film being a solo release, he added, “I don’t think that some film is not working so this will click. If this film has merit it will click. This film says it has merit because the trailer has been liked by the viewers.”  

Film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi is confident about the film’s mega opening and said, “The film is releasing in several languages. Hindi I expect to fetch around Rs 20 crore, Tamil Rs 35 crore plus, Telugu and Malayalam will also do great business. So all languages combined can be higher than Thugs of Hindostan. Talking about all languages, the highest figure is of Baahubali 2.”

He adds, “Irrespective of the fact that a movie like this is a solo release or clashes with another film, releases on a holiday or not, doesn’t matter. The releasing day of a Rajinikanth film in Tamil Nadu is a holiday in itself. All these things can give the movie a spike but ultimately the business of a movie depends on the merit of its content. The craze is huge and I am sure the movie will see traffic numbers in Tamil Nadu, in Tamil language particularly. And likewise the presence of Akshay Kumar, Shankar, AR Rahman in the team, the youth theme, the spectacular value makes it a great package.”

Talking about the film appealing to the Hindi audience, Rathi says, “Even Baabhubali was a Telugu film but if you see the Hindi collections of the film, it’s bigger than the highest Bollywood grosser before Dangal. It’s not about the language but about how wide the sensibility it caters to and how wide the audience it appeals to.”

“The trailer of the film has already raised the curiosity of the audience for its extreme visual effects and creative visualisation. Akshay’s look of an evil creature with teeth, scales and feathers is the high point of the film and the makers have released several posters to build the hype around the character. While the audio launch of the film took place at a grand event in Dubai and had music director of the film AR Rahman performing at the event, the trailer of the film was also released amid much fanfare in Chennai,” he adds.

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