Box office: Samrat Prithviraj slips on Monday, garners only Rs5 crore

The first Monday's collection was always going to be crucial in deciding the eventual fate of the Akshay Kumar-starrer Samrat Prithviraj (2022) after the film, directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, made an underwhelming Rs39 crore nett on its opening weekend.

If the film were to hold well and come close to its opening day collection of Rs10.5 crore nett, that would have been good news for the producers Yash Raj Films.

However, Samrat Prithviraj recorded a drop of more than 50% on Monday over its Friday collection, reflecting the rather steep fall in footfalls.

Samrat Prithviraj review: A predictable and boring piece of propaganda

The historical drama collected approximately Rs5 crore nett from the domestic box office on Monday, according to trade website BoxOfficeIndia.com, taking its grand total to a shade above Rs44 crore.

The film is now predicted by trade pundits to end the first week with a collection of about Rs56 crore nett.

The figure, while impressive in isolation, pales when contrasted with the film's estimated production budget of Rs200 crore.

Luckily for Samrat Prithviraj, there is no major Hindi film lined up for release this weekend or the next, giving the widely panned movie time to try and curtail its losses. Poor word-of-mouth publicity may, however, work against it. The film has not really clicked in the metropolitan multiplex centres or in Maharashtra, the country's biggest film market.

Meanwhile, the Yash-starrer KGF: Chapter 2 (2022) is nearing the end of its theatrical run. The film has done great business and should cross the Rs800 crore mark across languages in the next few days, though it is likely to come up short against the SS Rajamouli blockbuster Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017).

Elsewhere, here is what trade analyst Taran Adarsh said about the Kartik Aaryan-led Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022).

According to the veteran, the film's business is not slowing down and the audience is definitely preferring to watch it over newer releases.