Box office clash: Animal likely to become Ranbir Kapoor's biggest opener; Vicky Kaushal's Sam Bahadur trails behind in advance booking

Ranbir Kapoor's upcoming film Animal is all set to lock horns with Vicky Kaushal starrer Sam Bahadur in theatres on December 1. With advance booking reports, Animal is expected to become the biggest opener of Kapoor's career so far, while Vicky's film lags behind.

Hyderabad: Animal by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, renowned for Kabir Singh, will clash with Meghna Gulzar's biopic on Sam Manekshaw, titled Sam Bahadur, portrayed by Vicky Kaushal. Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna, is gaining momentum and capitalizing on its advanced bookings. It is generating significant buzz in the Hindi language, where it has amassed approximately Rs 17.1 crore from pre-sales for its opening day. On the other hand, Sam Bahadur has secured around Rs 1.81 crore in advanced bookings, with 57,888 tickets sold for the first day.

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Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film has sold an impressive 7,45,992 tickets across 12,539 screenings and has raked in Rs 19.7 crore thus far. Out of the total tickets sold, 5,75,197 were for Hindi-language shows, while 1,63,361 were for Telugu-language shows, according to Sacnilk data. The remarkable advanced bookings for Animal are primarily driven by Delhi (Rs 4.07 crore), Telangana (Rs 4.14 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 3.29 crore), Karnataka (Rs 2.23 crore), Gujarat (Rs 1.49 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs 2.18 crore), and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1.34 crore), while the other states have collected less than Rs 1 crore each.

Animal is expected to surpass Sanju and become Ranbir Kapoor's highest-grossing opening film. Sanju had amassed Rs 34.75 crore at the domestic box office. According to Sacnilk, the film is projected to earn Rs 65 crore in India and Rs 30 crore overseas, resulting in a gross total of Rs 95 crore on the opening day.

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On the other hand, the advanced bookings for Sam Bahadur appear lackluster compared to Animal. Despite its stellar cast, which includes Sanya Malhotra, Fatima Sana Sheikh, Neeraj Kabi, and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sam Bahadur has only managed to achieve Rs 1.82 crore in advanced bookings, reflecting the audience's limited interest in the film, as per Sacnilk.

Animal, on the contrary, delves into the intricate father-son dynamic between Arjun Singh (played by Ranbir Kapoor) and Balbir Singh (played by Anil Kapoor), set against the backdrop of the underworld. It also features Bobby Deol in the role of the antagonist, along with Rashmika Mandanna and Triptii Dimri.