S Shankar’s much-anticipated film Game Changer, starring Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, SJ Suryah, and Anjali, has made a strong debut at the box office. According to Sacnilk, the film grossed Rs 51.25 crore in India on its opening day, surpassing the first-day earnings of Ram Charan’s previous solo film, Vinaya Vidheya Rama (2019), which earned Rs 34 crore. However, it still trails behind the opening day collection of RRR, starring Ram Charan and Jr NTR, which earned Rs 133 crore.
Game Changer saw impressive numbers across languages: Rs 42 crore in Telugu, Rs 2.1 crore in Tamil, and Rs 7 crore in Hindi. It also earned Rs 10 lakh in Kannada and Rs 3 lakh in Malayalam. The Telugu version boasted strong occupancy rates: 51.32% for morning shows, 39.33% for afternoon shows, and 50.53% for evening shows. Meanwhile, the Hindi 4DX version had an outstanding 82% occupancy in the afternoon.
The film’s makers have claimed a worldwide gross of Rs 186 crore on its opening day.
For director S Shankar, Game Changer represents a much-needed success after his previous film Indian 2, starring Kamal Haasan, earned only Rs 25.6 crore on its opening day. His 2018 release, 2.0, featuring Rajinikanth, had a much stronger performance with over Rs 60 crore on its opening day and went on to become one of the highest-grossing Tamil films, grossing over Rs 720 crore globally.
In Game Changer, Ram Charan plays a dual role as IAS officer Ram Nandan and activist Appanna. Kiara Advani stars as his love interest, Deepika, while Anjali portrays Parvathy. SJ Suryah plays the role of a corrupt politician, Mopidevi, and Srikanth portrays an aging CM, Sathyamurthy.
With a strong opening during the Sankranti festival, Game Changer is expected to continue its momentum throughout the weekend, especially since it fills the big-screen gap left by Pushpa: The Rule, which has been in theaters for over a month.