Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji’s latest crime thriller Mardaani 3 is seeing a hopeful surge in audience interest with the increase in ticket sales being reported on its ninth day at the theatres. After a slow start to the week, the film picked up once the weekend rolled in; proving that the actress still has the ability to draw crowds.
Even though Border 2 is currently dominating the Box Office and breaking records, this third installment of the Mardaani franchise held its own and hit a new financial goal as reported by industry tracker Sacnilk.
The movie has received positive feedback for its plot and Mukerji’s performance as Shivani Shivaji Roy. While the first week had average numbers, this second Saturday turned out to be a positive shift. The jump in ticket sales suggests that the movie is benefiting from word-of-mouth in larger cities.
Mardaani 3 box office performance
On its ninth day, Mardaani 3 earned approximately Rs 3.50 crore net in the Indian market according to Sacnilk. This was a massive leap from its second Friday, which had seen collections dip to around Rs 1.85 crore. This growth of nearly 80% pushed the film’s total domestic net collection past the Rs 30 crore-mark, bringing the nine-day total to roughly Rs 31.65 crore. This milestone is a positive sign for the producers, as it indicates the film has enough legs to potentially reach the Rs 50 crore-mark by the end of its theatrical run.
When considering the gross figures, the India total stands at approximately Rs 38 crore as per Sacnilk. On the global stage, the film has found a niche audience, particularly in markets like North America and the UK, where the previous installments also performed well. The total worldwide gross is currently estimated to be in the range of Rs 45 crore to Rs 48 crore. While these numbers are modest compared to massive blockbusters, they represent a steady performance for a mid-budget thriller in a competitive February window.
Theatrical occupancies in different regions
The theater data for Day 9 showed that most people preferred going to the evening and night shows. The overall occupancy for the day was around 20.49%. Things started off slowly in the morning with around 9% of seats filled, but that number more than doubled by the afternoon.
According to Sacnilk, night shows ended up being the busiest, with occupancy reaching nearly 30% in major cities. This is a pretty common trend for thrillers made for older audiences, as they usually get more viewers during late-night screenings at multiplexes.
Looking at different parts of the country, the movie is still doing its best in Maharashtra. Mumbai had 378 shows and a steady 21% occupancy, while Pune had a higher rate of 31.50%. The movie also saw decent numbers in the Delhi-NCR area, where it had 328 shows and 23% occupancy.
Down south, Bengaluru was a key city for the film, keeping a 25% occupancy rate even though it had fewer screens than the northern hubs. These figures suggest that the movie is mostly finding its audience in big cities as it moves into its second Sunday.