Starring Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif, Phantom box office collections totalled Rs 33.18 crore in the opening weekend (three days since release). ‘Phantom’ had opened on an average note but managed to show some growth gradually. This Kabir Khan directorial collected Rs 8.46 crore on its opening day, it witnessed a 51 percent growth on day 2 (Raksha Bandhan) earning Rs 12.78 crore and on day 3, it managed to earn Rs 11.94 crore – good figures, but stopping well short of being great.
With no big release happening alongside it, Phantom was expected to dominate the BO collections and that is exactly what it did, but grand expectations from the movie, if any, were dashed by the time the opening weekend was over.
The take was as per expectations on Monday as Phantom collections kept decreasing as the week progressed: Rs 4.40 crore (day 4), Rs 3.63 crore (day 5) and Rs 3.31 crore (day 6).
By day 7, which was a Thursday, everyone was more focussed on Friday’s releases and as a result, Phantom managed a take of just Rs 2.88 crore.
Friday, with Welcome Back released, Phantom took a backseat and managed just Rs 0.93 crore on (day 8), for a domestic market total of Rs 48.33 crore. If the foreign take is added, the collections move up to Rs 54.9 crore.
Read movie review: Welcome Back
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Phantom, which revolves around global terrorism, is an adaptation of the novel “Mumbai Avengers”, which was based on the post-26/11 terror attack.
The film harks back to the festering wounds inflicted on India by the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai and constructs a wishful scenario: each of the perpetrators of that crime is punished by an intrepid agent unleashed by RAW.
The film has run into a bit of a controversy, but not in India, with Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders saying it will sue the filmmakers as they have put their staff, who work in war zones, in danger – they particularly spotlighted Katrina Kaif who goes around totting a gun in the film. Medecins Sans Frontieres says its workers are never armed and the film can give a wrong impression in areas riven by strife.