Jul 22, 2026 2:17pm IST
‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ To ‘Obsession’: Is A Strong Second Week The New Barometer of Box Office Success?
The success of every film is measured by its box office performance, and first-day and first-weekend business is considered critical. However, 2026 has turned the tide, with the second weekend becoming a major factor in certifying movies as hits. Several films like “Main Vaapas Aaunga,” “Obsession,” “Project Hail Mary,” “Bhooth Bangla” and “The Kerala Story,” among others, have witnessed an upward swing in their second weekend or remained at par with the first weekend.
To decode this box-office trend, Variety India speaks with industry experts to gauge what’s driving it.
Second Weekend Has Always Been Important
Vishek Chauhan, Chief Executive Officer at Roopbani Cinema in Bihar, shares that trending plays a crucial role in the theatrical run of movies. “It depends from film to film. If you have a big film that opens to Rs 100 crore on day one and does a weekend of ₹300 crore, what kind of benchmark are you looking at for the second weekend? So, trending is important for a film’s longer life. But it is not that, of late, a second weekend has become important. It has always been important. If a film has to have a good run at the box office, the second weekend is equally strong. And films that do well tend to have an even longer run at the box office. So, it depends from film to film,” shares Chauhan.
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“‘Main Vaapas Aaunga opened to very low numbers, but due to word of mouth, it grew. So obviously, it did much better in the second weekend. The same holds true for ‘The Kashmir Files.’ It depends on the film and the kind of trajectory it has. But the overall aim is: what is the output? What is the box office? And in terms of the number that is there, the cast, the pedigree, the expectation, is it being able to live up to that expectation? That is more important,” explains Vishek
This Trend Applies Majorly To Films Without Stars
Ramesh Bala, an industry tracker for Chennai, feels that this trend applies to films without major stars, as they are heavily dependent on word of mouth. “If it is not a star-driven vehicle, it is going to grow by word of mouth. ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ and ‘Obsession’ were not star-driven vehicles. So they grew only because the word of mouth and reviews were good. So, when screens increased in the second weekend, they grew. But if it is a big movie with a big star or a Hollywood tentpole, it will open with a bang in its first weekend. The content-driven movies without stars are usually sleeper hits. For them, the long run will be the barometer, and so the second weekend becomes crucial,” opines Bala.
Veteran business analyst Taran Adarsh also reflects Bala’s thoughts and says, “Most often a film works in the first week itself, but there are times a film takes time to grow. Like “Main Vaapas Aaunga,” which grew in the second week. There have been many such instances earlier, and it happens even now, but those cases are very rare.”
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