October box office collection: Varun Dhawan, Banita Sandhu starrer bags Rs 5.04 cr on day 1

October box office collection: Varun Dhawan, Banita Sandhu starrer released on Friday and from the morning shows it took off as per expectations. The film has released in just 1683 screen in India, plus 625 overseas and this restricted worldwide total has given October collection an opening day earnings net total of Rs 5.04 crore. This figure came after early morning shows startled all concerned with an occupancy rate of just 15 per cent. For a Varun Dhawan movie this was quite poor. Unfortunately, for October, the movie released at a time when blockbuster hit Baaghi 2, that stars Tiger Shroff, is still running in theatres.

Its take at the BO on opening day was Rs 25.10 cr! Better than even Padmaavat! This rivalry will be costly for Varun Dhawan as the older movie, which is fading in collections now, is still drawing in audiences, although not at the old rate. As far as day 1 collection goes, October has not been able to beat another runaway hit that started slow - Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety. That film earned Rs 6.42 cr on day 1. However, October collection surpassed both Pari, which starred Anushka Sharma, and Hichki, which had Rani Mukerji in leading roles. These two movies had earned Rs 4.36 cr and Rs 3.36 cr respectively. Ahead of October film are Padmaavat, Baaghi 2, Pad Man and Raid. All of them had logged earnings in double figures on release day.

Courtesy these numbers, October box office collection has been slotted as the 6th highest grosser of 2018. Still, happier days may be in the near future for Varun Dhawan as Baaghi 2 is likely to leave the field to this new film. Also, if the October team has done its job properly, there will be a big word of mouth boost coming over the weekend and this should be visible soon enough. The problem for October may also arise from the fact that it is an offbeat film and therefore, its take at the BO will always suffer while those of unabashed commercial films will gain by default. 
What is on everyone's mind though is whether October can go and cross some big milestones. That is a big question that will be answered over the next couple of days. In any case, for Varun Dhawan, October was a great opportunity to build himself up as an all-round star rather than be typecast.