Phone Bhoot box office day one prediction: Katrina Kaif film expected to earn twice as much as Janhvi Kapoor’s Mili

Three Bollywood films, all led by female actors, are releasing in theatres this Friday. First up is Katrina Kaif-starrer horror comedy Phone Bhoot, followed by Janhvi Kapoor’s survival thriller Mili, and the weekend will be rounded up by Huma Qureshi and Sonakshi Sinha’s social comedy Double XL. Trade analysts indicate that of these, Phone Bhoot is expected to earn the most but even that number may not be a very high one. Also read: Phone Bhoot trailer: Katrina Kaif is a ghost with business idea

Phone Bhoot stars Katrina as a ghost and also features Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ishaan Khatter, along with Jackie Shroff. The Gurmmeet Singh-directorial is being billed as a fun comedy and has received some positive response to the trailer. Industry insiders say that if all goes well for the film (good reviews, positive word of mouth etc.), it is expected to earn ₹2 crore nett across India on Friday. However, that is a slightly optimistic figure and a more realistic opening number for Phone Bhoot would be ₹1.5 crore. This is in stark contrast to last week’s Diwali releases Ram Setu ( ₹15 crore) and Thank God ( ₹8 crore).

However, the other two films are likely to see a worse fate than Phone Bhoot. Janhvi Kapoor-starrer Mili is expected to earn somewhere between ₹80 lakh and ₹1 crore nett on its opening day. The film is a remake of a 2019 Malayalam film called Helen. As per trade insiders, with limited excitement around South remakes currently, the film has been unable to generate the required buzz. Similarly, Huma Qureshi and Sonkashi Sinha’s Double XL is being pegged to nett ₹45-50 lakh on day one.

The numbers may be low but at least for Phone Bhoot, they aren’t exactly disappointing. Given that it’s a mid-budget film, it can do well in the long run if it picks up over the weekend via word of mouth. Eventually, a ₹100-crore global gross may just be out of its reach unless it manages to really do something special via word of mouth, like The Kashmir Files or Kantara.