BY Christa Lincy
📰 News
Toxic Opening weekend collection: Weekend gross hits ₹90.10 Cr but daily momentum slides by 14% amid cooling weekend demand
The anticipation surrounding Toxic was nothing short of massive. With a high-profile lead and a scale that promised a cinematic spectacle, the film was expected to shatter records across the country. However, as the first weekend comes to a close, the performance suggests a more complex story. While the initial numbers are significant, the momentum seems to be struggling against mixed word-of-mouth. The film is currently at a crossroads where the massive release size is not providing a safety net, and the organic growth usually seen over a weekend is missing.
When we look at the numbers, Toxic has reached a worldwide gross collection of ₹285.20 Cr. In the Indian market, the gross stands at ₹255.95 Cr, while the overseas markets have contributed ₹29.25 Cr. On a net basis, the film has officially crossed the ₹200 Cr mark, sitting at ₹214.10 Cr. However, the trend over the weekend is what really tells the story. Typically, a big-budget film sees a jump on Saturday and Sunday, but Toxic witnessed a steady decline in its daily earnings after the opening surge.
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Friday served as a partial holiday in many parts of North India, which helped the film maintain a decent collection of ₹32.25 Cr gross on its third day. You would expect Saturday to build on this, but surprisingly, the collections dropped to ₹30.15 Cr gross. This 7.5 percent dip in net collections on a Saturday is a clear indicator that the general audience is being cautious. By Sunday, the numbers slid further to ₹27.70 Cr gross. This downward trend over a traditional holiday weekend is quite unusual for a film of this magnitude and suggests that the negative feedback is impacting the footfalls.
The show counts also reflect this cooling interest. In the Hindi market, the film started Friday with 14,274 shows, but by Sunday, this number was trimmed down to 11,734 shows. Exhibitors often reduce shows when occupancy doesn't meet expectations. Even though the overall Hindi occupancy rose slightly on Sunday to 29.58 percent, it came on a much smaller base of shows. In major regions like Mumbai and Surat, the interest has been lukewarm, with Mumbai seeing only 23.5 percent occupancy on Sunday despite being a primary market.
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The show counts clearly reflect a cooling interest, as a deeper look at regional Hindi markets shows a significant contraction in the film footprint. In the National Capital Region (NCR), the film started Friday with 1,388 shows and 27.8 percent occupancy, but by Sunday, exhibitors had slashed the count to 1,030 shows. This loss of over 350 shows in just 48 hours indicates that the demand was not strong enough to sustain the initial release scale, despite NCR being a primary revenue driver.
The situation in the Gujarat circuit highlights an even sharper struggle. Ahmedabad shows fell from 750 on Friday to 544 on Sunday. Most concerning was Surat, where the show count dropped from 527 to 397, yet the occupancy actually crashed from 26 percent on Friday to a very low 14 percent on Sunday. This double blow of reduced shows and falling occupancy in a mass-heavy region like Surat is a clear sign that the word-of-mouth is impacting the film. Even in Mumbai, shows were reduced from 862 to 701, with occupancy remaining stagnant around the 23 percent mark.
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Even in performing regions like Lucknow, where occupancy stayed relatively higher at 30 percent, the show count was still trimmed from 216 to 158. Similarly, Pune saw its shows reduced from 472 to 341 over the weekend. While Friday was a partial holiday in North India that provided a decent initial cushion, the film failed to capitalize on the Saturday and Sunday window. The systematic reduction of shows across all major Hindi regions suggests exhibitors are minimizing losses as the film struggles to fill even the reduced capacities.
On the other hand, the Kannada version is the silver lining for the producers. Being a South-led project, it is performing exceptionally well in its home territory. On Sunday, the Kannada version saw a high occupancy of 52.09 percent across 1,297 shows. Cities like Bengaluru and Mysuru are leading the charge with occupancy levels hitting the 45 percent to 57 percent range. This strong local support is what is keeping the overall gross respectable, even as other markets like Telugu and Malayalam remain on the lower side. The Telugu version, for instance, stayed stagnant at around 23 percent occupancy throughout the weekend.
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At the national chains, the advance booking reflected the cooling hype. After a massive opening day with roughly 245,000 tickets sold in PVR, INOX, and Cinepolis, the numbers dropped significantly. By Saturday and Sunday, the bookings hovered around the 39,000 to 41,000 mark. While there was a very mild uptick on Sunday compared to Saturday, it wasn't the explosive growth needed to justify the film's scale. Across the first three days of the weekend, the combined collection from PVR, INOX, and Cinepolis stood at ₹17.80 Cr.
The momentum on digital platforms like BookMyShow also reflects this cooling interest. While the film has clocked a total of approximately 3.73 million ticket sales on the platform so far, a large portion of this was driven by early hype rather than sustained demand. The pre-sales alone accounted for a massive 1.67 million tickets, and the opening Wednesday saw nearly 898,000 tickets sold. However, the post-opening trend has been one of consistent decline. By Friday, daily sales dropped to about 303,000 tickets. Instead of seeing a typical weekend recovery, the numbers slid further to 275,000 on Saturday and reached their lowest point on Sunday with roughly 218,000 tickets sold.
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According to data from Venky Box Office, the North America Saturday gross was approximately $184K, bringing the total in that region to $1.38M. The total overseas gross after five days stands at ₹29.25 Cr.
Take a look at the Statewise earnings of the movie through the weekend.
Karnataka: ₹ 64.25 Cr Gross
Rest of India: ₹ 145.95 Cr Gross
APTG: ₹ 30.00 Cr Gross
Tamil Nadu: ₹ 11.80 Cr Gross
Kerala: ₹ 3.95 Cr Gross
The state-wise data highlights that Karnataka and the Rest of India (primarily the Hindi belt) are the two major pillars for the film. However, the heavy reliance on the initial opening day gross is evident. The total gross for the five-day period shows a significant front-loading, where a large chunk of the business happened in the first 48 hours.
Toxic - Weekend Box Office Performance (Fri-Sun)DayCollection (Gross)Shows CountOccupancy (%)Day 3 (Fri)₹ 32.25 Cr19,39025.5%Day 4 (Sat)₹ 30.15 Cr17,61224.3%Day 5 (Sun)₹ 27.70 Cr16,24125.3%Total₹ 90.10 Cr53,24325.03%
Bollywood
