New Delhi:
Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao’s much-anticipated film Stree 2 made an impressive debut at the box office on Independence Day, exceeding all expectations. The film has outperformed the opening day collections of 2023’s blockbuster Gadar 2, which had started its box office journey with Rs 40.1 crore. Stree 2 was previewed in select shows on Wednesday evening, followed by its official release on Thursday. According to industry tracker Sacnilk, the film has amassed a total of Rs 54.35 crore over both days, with Rs 46 crore earned on Thursday and Rs 8.35 crore from the Wednesday previews.
Directed by Amar Kaushik, Stree 2 has emerged as the biggest opener of the year. Prior to this, the record for the highest Hindi film opener of 2024 was held by Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, which earned Rs 24.6 crore on its first day in January. It also surpassed Kalki 2898 AD, which was released in multiple languages, including Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil and made Rs 22.5 crore (in Hindi version) on its opening day.
On Thursday, Stree 2 reported an overall occupancy rate of 77.09 per cent. The film was particularly well-received in the Delhi-NCR region, where it had 1,200 shows and occupancy of 86.75 per cent and in Mumbai, where it ran 1,103 shows with an 81 per cent occupancy rate. Released on Independence Day, Stree 2 is set to benefit from an extended five-day weekend, with Monday being a holiday for Raksha Bandhan in many parts of India.
Stree 2 faced competition from John Abraham’s Vedaa and the Akshay Kumar’s film Khel Khel Mein. Despite also being released in Tamil and Telugu, Vedaa managed to collect only Rs 6.52 crore across India, while Khel Khel Mein garnered just Rs 5 crore.
ICYDK: This Rajkummar Rao-Shraddha Kapoor film is part of producer Dinesh Vijan’s horror-comedy universe, which began with Stree in 2018 and includes films like Roohi, Bhediya, and Munjya. Released earlier this year with minimal promotion, Munjya earned Rs 107.48 crore during its theatrical run, making it the third-highest-grossing Hindi film of the year after Fighter (Rs 199.45 crore) and Shaitaan (Rs 149.49 crore).