Inside the Box: Cirkus Flops at the Box Office

Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus, the last big-budget Bollywood release of 2022, hit the screens on December 23, a week after Avatar: The Way of the Water. Taking the Hollywood release into consideration, the expectation was that Cirkus would collect between Rs. 10 to Rs. 12 crore on its opening day, which is low considering the film stars Ranveer Singh. Cirkus performed even lower than expectation, collecting Rs. 6.25 crore on its opening day and made Rs. 20.85 crore over its first weekend. On the second and third days of its release, the film saw a marginal rise to Rs. 6.40 crore and Rs 8.20 crore respectively. Despite Cirkus witnessing growth initially, as per trade estimates, there was a drop in collections of over 60% on day four.

Shetty and Singh’s last film together, Simmba (2018), collected more than Rs. 20 crore on its first day. However, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Singh’s only other film of 2022, was a non-starter at the box office and made Rs. 3.25 crore on its opening day and Rs 12 crore on its first weekend.

“It’s only right to admit that the film has underperformed drastically. All of us were expecting it to be an absolute bang at the end of this calendar year, and unfortunately, that has not happened. Having said that, let’s face the fact that in an industry where the success ratio and strike rate of our films is less than 10 per cent, here’s a man who has made about 15 films. Out of these 12 have been absolute smash hits. I’m very confident that with Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani and Singham 3, both, Ranveer Singh and Rohit Shetty will be back with a bang,” said film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi.

Meanwhile, Avatar: The Way of Water, which released on December 16, made Rs 41 crore in India on its opening day, and Rs 129 crore over its first weekend. The James Cameron directorial made Rs 59.3 crore on the weekend of December 23.