Exclusive/ Animal vs Sam Bahadur Box Office Prediction: Is this a one-horse race? Trade experts weigh in

The much-awaited Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal is gearing up for its release on December 1. The same day will also see the release of Vicky Kaushal's Sam Bahadur, which is the biopic of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. Earlier, there was a lot of curiosity about the box office clash between the two films. However, after the thunderous response that the recently released Animal trailer has received, it is expected to take the lead at the box office.

However, it remains to be seen how the films will be received by the audience and how the clash will impact their lifetime collections. Republic spoke to trade analysts who weighed in on the Animal vs Sam Bahadur box office battle.

'After Animal, Ranbir will be officially a superstar'

Trade analyst Sumit Kadel is certain that Animal will take a bumper opening in all languages. He remains hopeful of Animal’s strong opening in the Telugu language, considering director Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s popularity in the South.

“After this film, Ranbir Kapoor will officially be a superstar,” Kadel shared. Speaking about the opening day potential of Animal, he stated, “All languages combined, it can go up to Rs 60 crore plus on its opening day at the domestic box office. It can touch a figure as high as Rs 95 to 100 crore worldwide.” Kadel also believes that Animal can easily reach a lifetime collection of Rs 500 crore at the domestic box office. This would make it the fourth movie this year in Bollywood to breach the mark after Pathaan, Jawan and Gadar 2.

Positives for Ranbir Kapoor's Animal

Both Sumit Kadel and Ramesh Bala believe that the number of shows for Animal will be limited because of the film’s long duration (3 hours 21 minutes), but it would impact the film’s business much. Speaking about this, Bala shared, “Day-to-day numbers might be affected, but overall if the word of mouth is good, Animal will keep drawing audience for the next few weeks.”

Kadel is confident that just like Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s previous film Kabir Singh, which too earned Rs 280 crore despite being an A-rated film, Animal too has its own audience base which would help it sail towards box office success without any reliance on family audiences.

Will Sam Bahadur cross Rs 100 crore mark?

About Sam Bahadur, Sumit Kadel noted that the Vicky Kaushal starrer has garnered decent advance bookings, considering its opening against Animal. Yet, he added that the film's box office will rely on word of mouth. Vicky Kaushal is presently not big enough a star to pull a big crowd, he shared.

“Sam Bahadur has an extremely good film to put up a decent number. It might touch Rs 25 crore on its opening weekend,” Kadel said.

Meanwhile, trade analyst Ramesh Bala believes that Sam Bahadur has its own share of factors that can bring in the audience. Bala stated, “Sam Bahadur is the biopic of one of the most foremost army officials of our country. So people will not totally dismiss the film - they will like the story, even if not the entire film. With a good word of mouth, Sam Bahadur can show 50% rise in its Saturday and Sunday collections. Overall, the film has the potential to reach 100 or 120 crore. Even if it does 80 crore, it’s good.”