Romeo Akbar Walter box office day 1: John Abraham’s film edges past Shazam, posts ₹5 crore opening
John Abraham’s Romeo Akbar Walter has delivered an underwhelming performance at the box office, registering an opening day total of ₹5 crore. The film outclassed DC’s Shazam!, which made ₹3 crore.
John Abraham-starrer RAW - Romeo Akbar Walter led a slow weekend at the box office, with a ₹5 crore opening day haul. RAW edged out the latest entry in the DC Extended Universe, Shazam!, which opened to ₹3 crore on Friday.
According to Box Office India, the spy thriller trails the opening day total of John’s previous release, Satyameva Jayate, which had raked in ₹20 crore on day one. RAW’s opening falls more in line with John’s other films, such as Parmanu - The Story of Pokhran, Rocky Handsome and Force 2.
The film opened to largely negative reviews, which criticised John’s performance, and director Robbie Grewal’s pacing. Writing for the Hindustan Times, Raja Sen commented in his 1.5 star review, “Abraham, possibly a shark at poker, uses expressions sparingly, as if afraid to run out of a restricted repertoire.”
Meanwhile, the superhero film Shazam! couldn’t capitalise on excellent reviews as it heads into the weekend. The film’s ₹3 crore opening falls short of previous DC entries Justice League and Aquaman. While Justice League concluded its India run with around ₹40 crore, Aquaman finished with over ₹50 crore, according to Box Office India.
Also read: After Shazam and Aquaman, a definitive ranking of the DC Extended Universe films
Aquaman is the highest grossing DC film of all time, with a global total of more than $1.1 billion. Shazam! is produced on a much smaller scale - it has a reported budget of around the $100 million range, which is $200 million less than Justice League’s budget. The film has a healthy 93% score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The Hindustan Times’ four-star review noted, “Shazam! is as magical as its title suggests; heartfelt, humorous and burdened by none of the hubris of Batman v Superman and Man of Steel.”
Meanwhile, director Sriram Raghavan’s AndhaDhun has opened massively in China. According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the film has already made ₹44 crore in the world’s second biggest movie market, and is expected to double that number by the end of its extended weekend.
Follow @htshowbiz for more
Get more updates from Bollywood, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.