Day 1 box office for Sooryavanshi: Will the Akshay Kumar-starrer resurrect the cinema halls?

New Delhi, India: Filmmaker Rohit Shetty must have breathed a sigh of relief as his latest cop-actioner, 'Sooryavanshi,' finally hit theatres on Thursday, after a long wait. 'Sooryavanshi,' a film starring Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, and Ranveer Singh, brings Rohit's cop universe to life.

The film's release date was originally set for March 2020, but it was postponed because of the COVID-19 outbreak in India. The film was later set to be released in April 2021 but was postponed indefinitely owing to the country's second wave of COVID-19. On November 5, 2021, 'Sooryavanshi' was released in theatres all throughout the world, just in time for Diwali.

After a 19-month hiatus, the picture is finally getting an all-India release. During this time, two COVID lockdowns were activated, effectively shutting down all outside activities and restricting moviegoers to OTT platforms. Cinemas around the country were closed for over a year, and during that time, streaming services supplied much-needed entertainment to irate moviegoers.

At the same time, a number of B-town celebrities became embroiled in problems, whether it was a drugs scandal, money laundering schemes, or the media coverage surrounding Sushant Singh Rajput's murder, prompting fans to vent their displeasure and threaten to boycott their films forever. With the premiere of 'Sooryavanshi,' there were major concerns about whether or not the public would return to theatres to see the stars stretch their biceps and deliver jaw-dropping sentences in front of baddies.

According to a post on filminformation.com, the masala-entertainer has managed to draw a crowd to the theatres, something some critics believed would be "impossible" given the public's dread of the coronavirus. According to the source, 'Sooryavanshi' is likely to be a box office success, grossing roughly Rs 25-30 crore on its first day of release.

According to the report, Sooryavanshi's first-day total in PVR properties is expected to top the first-day total for 'Housefull 4' in the same multiplex chain's properties, which was also released on Diwali (2019). And if it happens, that would be reason enough to celebrate.