The Devil Day 2 box office: Darshan film drops to a third of its Day 1 opening

The Devil Day 2 box office: After a stupendous opening of Rs 13.8 cr as per official sources, Day 2 did not even make half of that. Has the film already lost steam at the box office?

Darshan Thoogudeepa in the new motion poster of The Devil

Challenging Star Darshan’s celebrities gave The Devil a blockbuster opening on December 11, but the momentum dropped drastically thereafter. After registering a Rs 13.8 cr gross opening, as per the banner, which sacnilk pegs at a more Rs 11.75 cr gross and Rs 10 cr net (all-India), on Day 2, collections fell to about Rs 4.25 cr gross and Rs 3.5 cr net. This is a sharp drop compared to Day 1, and early estimates for Day 3 (Saturday) are also not very promising. A quick look at ticket aggregators reveals that bookings are very sluggish for Day 4, its first Sunday, almost as if the film has already run out of steam.

Reduced footfalls and lower ticket prices to blame?

What is also contributing to the lower box office figures is that ticket rates have almost normalised, after the hiked prices of Day 1. Single-screen theatres are back to the Rs 200-250 rates, while multiplexes remain in the Rs 350-700 range, both of which are still a lot lower than on December 11.

According to sacnilk, the India net collections of The Devil was Rs 13.5 cr by Day 2, a long way from achieving break-even or getting to profits. A source had told OTTplay that the budget of The Devil is in the range of Rs 50-60 cr, even though the film was largely shot on specially erected sets, and had minimal foreign schedules. This, he’d said, was because the film’s release was delayed by a year owing to the actor’s ongoing legal issues.

Also read: The Devil movie review: Darshan vs Darshan in outdated snooze-fest tale of power and love

The decision to release the film in the actor’s absence, as he awaits trial, was to avoid further financial burden in this regard. Director-producer Prakash Veer had explained in a pre-release interview, that the film was bleeding in lakhs for every day that it was not in theatres, given that production funds had been secured from financiers and interest payments were being made.

Also read: The Devil ending explained: Here’s why the last scene of Darshan-starrer is problematic

The Devil FAQs

Q. What was Darshan Thoogudeepa's last release?

A. Darshan Thoogudeepa was last seen onscreen in 2023's Kaatera , which is available on Z5 (via OTTplay Premium also).

Q. What is Darshan's new film?

A. Darshan's new film is The Devil, which has him reuniting with Tarak maker Prakash Veer. The film had been announced as a December 12, 2025 release, but was then advanced by a day. The film has released in the actor's absence, as he is currently in jail in connection with the Renukaswamy murder case.

Q. List the cast of The Devil

A. The Devil is led by Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is paired with Rachana Rai. The film also stars Mahesh Manjrekar, Achyuth Kumar, Vinay Gowda, Chandu B Gowda, among many others.

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