With two days left before its October 2 release, trade trackers peg the Ajay Devgn thriller's opening weekend advance at close to 18 crore nett, nearly triple what its predecessor managed at the same stage.
Two days before release, the numbers on Drishyam 3: The Conclusion are already outrunning the film it has to live up to.
According to box office tracking site Bolly Movie Reviewz, the Ajay Devgn courtroom thriller has sold around 1.25 lakh tickets at national multiplexes, PVR, Inox and Cinepolis included, translating to roughly 11 crore nett (about 12.5 crore gross) booked for its Friday opening on October 2. Add in the rest of the weekend and the advance climbs to close to 18 crore nett, per the same tracker's estimate.
Compare that with Drishyam 2. That film had sold 1.16 lakh tickets at the same stage and carried an advance of 5.75 crore before it went on to open at 15 crore. Drishyam 3 has already crossed that opening-day figure in advance alone, and it hasn't hit screens yet.
Part of the jump is simple arithmetic. Multiplex ticket prices have gone up since 2022, and the site notes Drishyam 3 is carrying a higher premium price point than its predecessor, which inflates the nett-to-gross math even before footfall is accounted for.
What the projection looks like
Bolly Movie Reviewz is projecting an opening in the 50 to 60 crore range nett, which would make it the biggest start of the franchise by some distance if it holds up. Worth flagging that these are advance-booking-based estimates from a single tracking outlet two days out, not confirmed studio numbers, and early advance in Hindi cinema has a habit of either firming up hard in the last 48 hours or fizzling once walk-in audiences are factored in.
The film reunites Ajay Devgn with Tabu and brings in Jaideep Ahlawat as the new face on the other side of the investigation, alongside Shriya Saran, Rajat Kapoor, Prakash Raj and Ishita Dutta. The franchise has built its reputation on slow-burn tension rather than spectacle, which makes the multiplex-heavy booking pattern, PVR, Inox, Cinepolis, rather than mass single screens, feel consistent with who's actually buying tickets this early.
What happens over the next 48 hours will tell the real story. Trade trackers typically see advance bookings either spike through Thursday as reviews and word start circulating, or plateau if the buzz has already peaked. If the 50 to 60 crore projection holds through Friday, Drishyam 3 would be opening bigger than both films that came before it, a meaningful marker for a franchise that has never relied on opening-day fireworks to get to its final number.
For now, the number to watch is October 2's actual box office tally, due out Friday evening once distributors start reporting first-day collections.
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.