Sooryavanshi box office: Which was the last Bollywood film to have opened as well as Akshay's cop drama before Covid-19 struck?

Akshay Kumar starrer Sooryavanshi has brought the Bollywood box office back to life. The film despite its 20 months of delay in arrival to theatres has managed to become one of the most successful openers for Akshay Kumar. The film grossed Rs. 26.29 crores at the Indian box office on Friday despite the theatrical occupancy in many parts of the country still being restricted to 50%.

While this may not be Akshay’s first attempt at reviving the box office, with his espionage thriller Bell Bottom preceding this action extravaganza in September, Sooryvanshi did about 80% of Bell Bottom’s lifetime collection in a day. The actor’s relentless efforts in bringing audiences back to theatres seem to have paid off with the total weekend predictions being around Rs. 70 crores from this Rohit Shetty directorial.

Before Sooryavanshi, the last film to have done nearly as well on its opening day was Salman Khan’s Dabangg 3 which released in December 2019, another cop drama. In 2020, Ajay Devgn’s Tanhaji and Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi 3 gave Bollywood its last biggest box office openings. Dabangg 3 had collected Rs. 24.50 at the box office on its opening day while it went on to mint Rs. 81.15 crores during its first weekend.  Baaghi 3 which opened with box office collections of Rs. 17.50 crores had to switch to digital platforms as soon after its arrival theatres were shut down. Ajay’s Tanhaji, on the other hand, had earned Rs. 15.10 crores and did a lifetime of close to Rs.280 crores at the box office.

Among Akshay’s releases in the past few years too, Sorryavanshi stands out. The film is only second after Mission Mangal, one of his many 2019 films. Mission Mangal remains Akshay’s biggest opener ever with Rs. 29.16 crores earned on its opening day at the box office. Sooryvanshi comes in second with Rs. 26.29 crores earned. The film would have no doubt surpassed Mission Mangal in the absence of Covid-19 restrictions.

Others among Akshay’s big openers are Gold (2018), with earnings of 25.25 crores, Kesari (2019) with Rs. 21.06 crores, 2.0 (2018, Hindi) with 20.25 crores, Housefull 4 (2019) with Rs. 19.08 crores and Good Newzz (2019) with Rs. 17.56 crores.