Varun Dhawan’s high-budget Christmas release Baby John has minted Rs 32.65 crore at the domestic box office in its first week. The film, which was promoted extensively, has been struggling to establish its foothold amid the Pushpa 2 wave that swept the country. The Christmas release minted Rs 2.15 crore on Tuesday, taking the total to Rs 32.65 crore, per Sacnilk.
The film registered double-digit numbers on its opening day, marking Varun Dhawan’s biggest opener in five years. However, the film saw a major dip in its earnings from the second day onwards.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh also spoke about Baby John’s “underwhelming” opening-day performance. He also highlighted that the film faced tough competition from Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King.
Taran Adarsh wrote on X, “Baby John faced stiff competition from Pushpa 2 [in mass circuits] and Mufasa [in urban centres], which impacted its opening day biz… It’s worth noting that Pushpa 2 continues to be a mighty opponent for *all* films. A midweek release coinciding with a major holiday typically ensures a strong opening day… However, Baby John must sustain its momentum till Sunday to achieve a respectable *extended* weekend total.”
Baby John is jointly backed by Atlee’s A for Apple Studios, Cine1 Studios, Jio Studios and Vipin Agnihotri Films.
Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jackie Shroff, and Rajpal Yadav are also a part of the film.
In his review for NDTV, film critic Saibal Chatterjee wrote, “Trouble is that Baby John falls way, way short of working action movie fans up into a celebratory frenzy. Not that it does not try. But all its vim and vigour, delivered in the form of noisy, overwrought driblets over a running time of two hours and forty minutes, come to naught.”
