Animal has taken an extraordinary opening with some places recording bumper opening at places and other places being excellent. The advance was fantastic but there are smaller centres which dont really have an advance and the film has also opened very well there with many single screens recording solid occupancy in the first show. It is the first Ranbir Kapoor film to get a response on the first show in these places. Before this its was more of a pick up story be it Sanju or Brahmastra in these places.

The advances were less in the hindi mass pockets but all these circuits have opened very well and even cities in Punjab (political) are seeing a very good response which is rare post the pandemic as very few films have managed good collections here on day one. The weaker side is likely to be East India but even the overall numbers will be good here unless you compare with a Jawan and Pathaan. The morning opening in the mass pockets gives it a shot of 50 crore nett and a lot will depend on where Mumbai circuit lands. Either way even if the film lands a little short it is still a extraordinary opening.

The film is a huge boost to Ranbir Kapoor as it boosts the star status further. He is the only real male star the industry has produced in the last twenty years and here the box numbers of Animal probably put him behind only Shahrukh Khan as far as box office pegging order goes But these sort of things are not just about one film but time and its also the genre making a big difference be it SRK or Ranbir now as Pathaan, Jawan and Animal is very different from the cinema they had been doing pre pandemic and long may it continue.

The film is also putting up huge numbers in South in Hindi and Telugu and here the credit goes to the director who has clout there as his film Arjun Reddy has some cult value and the public down there probably want to see what the guy has done with Animal especially the audience in Andhra.  Its something that directors in the South have while in Hindi its difficult to find a director with pull at the box office. Its also because the audience is so divided with many states rather than the one like Andhra or Tamil Nadu. But earler directors like Raj Kapoor or Subhash Ghai had some pull at the box office with their names.