KGF Chapter 2 inching closer to Rs 1200 crore at the worldwide box office; unlikely to beat Baahubali 2's lifetime collection

When KGF: Chapter 2 was ready for release on April 14, it was widely believed that the film would work well only in the Karnataka, AP/Telangana and Hindi belt, because Vijay’s Beast was releasing around the same time and was expected to dominate the Tamil Nadu and Kerala market. Beast, which released a day early on April 13, opened to disastrous reviews, which worked well for KGF: Chapter 2. The Yash starrer was already riding high on expectations and in the absence of competition at the box office, it had a free reign. The film’s massive first week collection was also attributed to highly elevated ticket rates.

In the weeks that followed, none of the other supposedly big-ticket films, be it Shahid Kapoor’s Jersey, Chiranjeevi’s Acharya, Ajay Devgn’s Runway 34 or Tiger Shroff’s Heropanti 2 managed to cause a dent in KGF 2’s box office run. The film has got massive market shares in every region it released, with the lion’s share coming from the Hindi belt, where it surpassed the record held by Aamir Khan’s Dangal, when it crossed the Rs 400 crore mark. Yash’s film has apparently amassed a whopping Rs 1,160 crore in world-wide collections, and while it has seen a dip in revenue in its fourth week, it Is far from done yet. In the AP/Telangana belt, KGF: Chapter 2 is apparently the only film this year that has been profitable for all distributors and exhibitors. Interestingly, the film’s box office collections come from only 5 crore footfalls, which would also point to the higher ticket prices helping it along.

While the film is likely to add another 100-odd crore to its tally in the next week or two, industry insiders say that it may not break Baahubali 2’s lifetime collection, which stands at close to Rs 1,800 crore. The Prashant Neel directorial could be a close second, they say.