Varun Dhawan Starrer Baby John Being REPLACED With Unni Mukundan's Marco (Hindi) In PVR INOX Due To Poor Collections: Report

Varun Dhawan starrer Baby John has been struggling at the box office after its poor opening. The movie earned ₹11.25 crore on the first day of the release totally opposite of what was expected. The movie was expected to pick up the pace on the second day but struggled to find footfall in the theatres, resulting in over 50 per cent decline in the collection. In three days, the movie has racked in only ₹19.65 crore. Owing to the slow trend, it has been reported that PVR Inox Pictures has replaced the shows with the Malayalam film Marco's Hindi version.

Is PVR Inox releasing Baby John on only 4 out of 275 single screens?

An exhibitor told Bollywood Hungama that after Baby John suffered a huge drop on Thursday, the exhibitors were sure that the collection wouldn't grow on Friday, As a result, cinemas across the country have reduced Varun starrer's shows. The movie which clashed with Unni Mukundan starrer Marco which released on December 20 is gradually gaining traction owing to its gory storyline. "There’s a curiosity to see it (Marco) as many are claiming that Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s ultra-violent film Animal (2023), looks like a kiddie movie, in front of Marco because of its excessive violent scenes. Hence, there’s a demand for it and Baby John’s shows are being replaced with that of Marco and also films like Pushpa 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King,” the tabloid quoted the source saying.

MovieMax Wonder Mall in Thane, Mumbai has scheduled to play 5 shows of Marco in Hindi and 3 shows of Baby John on Sunday, December 29. In Mumbai’s G7 multiplex, Baby John was initially playing in 1000-seater Gaiety and also 2 shows in Gossip. However, the movie has now been shifted to Galaxy, which has 200 seats less than Gaiety while Allu Arjun starrer is back again in Gaiety. Exhibition sources added that on the weekdays Baby John’s shows will be reduced further.

“The CP Berar territory consists of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Southern and Eastern Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There are 275 single screens in this circuit and shockingly, Baby John is playing in only 4 single-screen theatres! Baby John is a mass-appealing film and should have been showcasing in at least 30% of the single screens, if not more. Alas, the distributors were able to procure less than 3% of the screens. This is unprecedented," the source added.

Baby John struggles to maintain pace at the box office

On day 3 of the theatrical run, (first Friday), Baby John minted ₹3.65 crores, as per early estimates reported by Sacnilk. The actioner has amassed a total ₹19.65 crore in the three-day theatrical run. The coming weekend remains crucial to assess the film's lifetime collection.

The low collection can be due to tough competition with Pushpa 2: The Rule, Mufasa: The Lion King and Marco. While the Allu Arjun starrer remains untouchable at the box office, the Disney film has also raked better collections than Baby John.

According to Sacnilk, on the fourth day of the release, Baby John could only manage to mint ₹2.42 crore (at the time of writing this article). While the final estimates will be released by tomorrow, so far the total stands at ₹22.07 crore. Seeing the trend, the movie is unlikely to even touch ₹30 crore mark in the opening weekend.