The much-anticipated Bollywood movie “Baby John,” which starred Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, and Wamiqa Gabbi, was released on December 25, 2024. In spite of the high level of anticipation and the excited noises of the pre-release campaign, this movie managed to make a little impact at the box office, under performing both domestically and internationally.
Opening Day and Weekend Performance
“Baby John” made a moderate amount of money on the opening day by reaching approximately ₹11.25 crore in its first day of release in India (source). The total money made by the film in the opening weekend was ₹27.38 crore which is way below the expected amount in the industry (source). This drop was related to the fact that the movie got mixed reviews and it also faced a strong competition as there were many other major releases running in the theaters.
Week-by-Week Breakdown
- Week 1: The movie gained a boot in revenue by reaching a total of ₹36.4 crore in India (source). Although some audiences showed interest towards it, the absence of good word-of-mouth was a huge drawback, as it led to its failure in succeeding.
- Week 2: “Baby John” acquired a meagre ₹2.97 crore to the sum of ₹39.5 crore after the first week (source). Most of the daily collections started to fall below ₹1 crore, which made the audience lose their interest and finally go away.
- Week 3 and After: The earnings of the movie were about ₹39.83 crore by the end of the third week with the film still remaining to cross the ₹40 crore mark on the 16 th day (source).
- India: Although the movie made about ₹35.98 crore nett (₹42.83 crore gross). The Hindi version did the most business, getting one or two bits from the other languages dubbed versions only.
- Overseas: Abroad, “Baby John” earned about ₹13.66 crore. Therefore, the worldwide total sum was around ₹56.49 crore (source).
Regional Performance
- India: The movie was a huge success, grossing ₹42.83 crore, with the Hindi language collection accounting for the major part most of the earnings which were a small contribution from dubbed versions in all languages.
- Overseas: “Baby John” came as a major international release and accumulated ₹56.49 crore out of which around ₹13.66 crore were from overseas markets mainly.
Critical and Audience Reception
Critics, on the other hand, held a mix of views about “Baby John.” While the star Varun Dhawan was appreciated the most, the negative side of the story was judged inadequately for its novelty. The script, it was reported, was more or less a stereotype, and the direction was average.
The audience was in two minds, with some loving the main actors and the beautiful visuals, whereas others thought it was a big disappointment. Social media talk around “Baby John” had gone down considerably after the first week.
Competition and Challenges
The film, “Pushpa 2,” which had a bigger income, however, received more attention than the “Baby John” movie to which it was released alongside, took most of the limelight from the smaller film. Furthermore, the dates of the movie premiere and the ways of promoting it were not distinctive.
Final Thoughts
When Bollywood movies are pitted against each other in a competitive industry, “Baby John” becomes an example of the challenges they face due to the harsh race for the top spot. The very successful cast of the movie as well as the very high production values were the only things that the script of the movie was not. The story of the movie was quite simplistic and was not understandable by the audience very well.
Note: Please note that the numbers are all around and based on data that can be found from various sources.
