Apr 27, 2026 1:27pm IST
Box Office Weekend Winners: ‘Bhooth Bangla’ Powers Akshay Kumar’s Comeback, ‘Michael’ Outshines New Releases
Looks like “Bhooth Bangla” is turning the tide for Akshay Kumar. The horror-comedy has emerged as a hit at the box office, helping the actor regain his position as a reliable box office draw following a prolonged phase of underperformances.
The Priyadarshan-directed film continued to dominate the box office chart as the film witnessed a massive jump over the second weekend following a steady hold during the weekdays. It collected ₹5.55 crore on Friday, followed by a sharp jump to ₹10.50 crore on Saturday, and around ₹12 crore on Sunday, taking the second weekend total to ₹28.05 crore net. The film has earned ₹108.05 crore net in 10 days (including paid previews), becoming the sixth ₹100 crore-grosser film for Akshay post-pandemic and 20th of his career overall. Driven by a strong word and sustained momentum, the film is now eyeing ₹145-150 crore lifetime, marking another box office hit for Hindi cinema following “Dhurandhar 2.”
“Michael”, a biopic on the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is dominating the worldwide box office, with a similarly strong trajectory in India as well. The film has earned 16 crore over the extended weekend, comfortably outperforming all other new releases in India this weekend. It started exceptionally well with ₹1.70 crore in the paid previews, and 3.8 crore on Friday, followed by substantial growth on Saturday (₹4.90 cr) and Sunday (₹5.40 cr).
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Despite being panned in reviews, the film has successfully resonated with audiences across the world. The film has amassed $97 million in North America and $217 million globally over the weekend, ranking as the best start of all time for a biopic film. It also notched the second-biggest debut of the year behind “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131 million).
The Malayalam coming-of-age comedy drama “Vaazha II: Biopic of a Billion Bros” is now the third-highest grosser of all time in the Malayalam film industry. Showing exceptional consistency in the fourth weekend as well, the film added ₹7.50 crore, taking its total to ₹121.35 crore net in India. It's performing relatively well overseas too and has already crossed the ₹220+ crore benchmark worldwide. Produced on a modest budget of just ₹10 crore, the film is now heading toward finishing around ₹ 250 crore gross worldwide, which is an exceptional achievement for a film of its scale.
“Dhurandhar: The Revenge” is still in cinemas and continues its extraordinary theatrical run even after a month of its release. Despite losing a significant number of screens to newer releases like “Bhooth Bangla” and “Michael,” the Ranveer Singh and Aditya Dhar film remains one of the major forces even on its sixth weekend, adding another ₹7.40 crore net. The total 39-day domestic box office collection now stands at ₹1087 crore net, while globally it has amassed over ₹1700 crore gross to date.
Another Malayalam film, “Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam,” is showing steady growth with each passing week. The film that collected only ₹6.75 crore in the first week showed a massive growth in the second week, collecting ₹9.26 crore. Holding on to the strong momentum due to its excellent word of mouth, the film added another ₹4.51 crore on the third weekend for a total domestic collection of ₹20.52 crore net.
Tamil film Love Insurance Kompany (LIK) collected ₹1.66 crore in its third weekend out of a net total of ₹41.81 crore. Hollywood's “Project Hail Mary,” which has already emerged as the biggest Hollywood grosser of this year, added ₹2.38 crore in its fifth weekend, taking its total to ₹68.87 crore net at the Indian box office.
Most of the new releases this weekend were poorly received. Other than “Michael,” no other film could make a mark at the box office. Titles such as “Ginny Weds Sunny 2,” (₹1.20 crore) Telugu film “Gedelaraju Kakinada Taluka,” (₹1.52 crore) Kannada film “Elra Kaaleliyatte Kaala” (₹32 lakh) and Hollywood film “Fuze,” (₹14 lakh) all turned out to be box office failures.
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