Box office prediction: How Ranbir Kapoor's Animal will impact Vicky Kaushal's Sam Bahadur? Trade experts spill the beans

Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal has been making a lot of noise among the audience ahead of its release. While the massy-actioner is expected to set the box office on fire, one can’t underestimate the potential of Vicky Kaushal’s Sam Bahadur, which can emerge as a dark horse at the ticket windows. Till now, the biographical war drama has garnered a decent response in its advance bookings and is expected to witness an upward trend because of its powerful content.

When asked whether _Animal_ will affect _Sam Bahadur_ at the box office, film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi said, “I think neither of the two films beyond a point will get affected by each other because both cater to very different demographics. I mean Animal is a mass entertainer and Sam Bahadur is a more evolved, a more multiplexy film and that’s why I really think that both can coexist together catering to very different audiences.” Talking about its opening day figures, he added, “I mean it’s not a film that’s going as widely you know as wide in terms of its real size as Animal and even in terms of its intrinsic value it’s not as big as Animal so it’s unfair to compare the two but I really think that Sam Bahadur should be able to score a Rs 4-5 crore on day one to say the least and if the reports are good the evening shows will pick up and give it a much more respectable and much more you know encouraging figure. Sam Bahadur is a film that I think will grow with a word of mouth unlike Animal which will open with a blast.” On the other hand, trade expert Ramesh Bala shared his first-day prediction and said, “I am expecting some Rs 5 to 7 crores net pan India. Like all over India, it should collect.”

Speaking about the big clash and Animal’s dominance over Sam Bahadur, he added, “It will continue to work well in the range it is there. Like if you look at Gadar 2 and OMG 2, Gadar 2 performed exceptionally well with Rs 40-50 crore per day. But OMG 2 did below. Similarly, whatever the market, whatever the release screens, whatever the multiplex, whatever the buzz of both is good, so it will perform decently. Whatever the budget it is made at, for that number it should do well. See, for both the movies, the key is on Friday people should watch it, the reviews and the word of mouth should be good. If they see it is a good movie, certainly they have the potential to reach whatever the budget, that number they can reach. Animal will be at the higher range, Sam Bahadur will be at the lower range. Both biggies are hitting the screens on 1st December.