Two days in, Karthi's spy sequel has made barely a tenth of its reported cost back, with the Day 2 crash making the math even tighter.
Rs 100-120 crore is the number being quoted around Sardar 2, and it's the number that matters more than any single day's collection right now.
Karthi's spy sequel, the follow-up to 2022's Sardar, pulled in a net Rs 2.45 crore in India on Day 2 from 3,361 shows, per Sacnilk figures reported by Free Press Journal. That's a 45.6% fall from its opening day net of Rs 4.50 crore. Two days in, the film's India net stands at Rs 6.95 crore, with India gross closer to Rs 8.15 crore.
Add the overseas numbers and the picture doesn't improve much. The film brought in Rs 1 crore in overseas gross on Day 2, taking that tally to Rs 2.50 crore. Worldwide, across both days, Sardar 2 sits at roughly Rs 10.65 crore.
Here's the problem. If the reported budget of Rs 100-120 crore is accurate, that would make Sardar 2 the most expensive film Karthi has headlined. And a two-day worldwide haul of Rs 10.65 crore against a cost of that size isn't a start so much as a long way still to travel. Films have recovered from slower openings before. But the trajectory from Day 1 to Day 2, nearly halved, isn't the one you want to see this early.
Language-wise, the Tamil version did Rs 1.75 crore on Day 2, with Telugu adding Rs 70 lakh. Karthi plays a dual role in the film, with Rajisha Vijayan back from the original and S. J. Suryah, Malavika Mohanan and Ashika Ranganath rounding out the cast. Both actors have kept up the promotional push on social media through the release.
The original Sardar, released in 2022, went on to earn around Rs 84.50 crore worldwide over its run and was counted as a hit at the time. The sequel arrives with a bigger scale and, going by online chatter since release, a noticeably cooler reception. Comparisons to other underwhelming Tamil sequels this year have started doing the rounds, fair or not.
What happens next depends on the weekend. A film carrying this kind of budget needs its opening weekend to hold, not halve again. Trade watchers will be looking hard at the Day 3 and Day 4 numbers to see whether Sardar 2 finds its footing over Ganesh Chaturthi crowds or slides further before its costliest bet gets tested against the box office it was made for.
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