Singham Again box office Day 1 prediction: Ajay Devgn's film to be a Diwali bonanza

Singham Again has been released on over 3,500 screens all across India, which is a huge number for any film during a clash. The Ajay Devgn starrer is looking at a giant opening, considering its genre and the popularity of the franchise.

In Short

• Singham Again was released on over 3,500 screens across India
• The advance bookings grossed around Rs 15.7-18.69 crore for its first day
• Ajay Devgn leads the Rohit Shetty-directorial amid grand anticipation

Singham Again hits the screens today, November 1st, with a fabulous screen share. The film's team managed to get one of the highest screen counts for a Hindi film during a clash scene, and it is now releasing on over 3,500 screens all across India. Headlined by Ajay Devgn, the film is driven by the solid goodwill of its franchise and the audience's faith in Rohit Shetty's direction.

The cop-drama did well in advance booking by selling over 51 lakh tickets for 13689 shows, grossing around Rs 15.7 crore (without blocked seats), and Rs 18.69 crore (with blocked seats), reported the trade website Sacnilk. The film is facing a clash with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, which has been released on around 3,000 screens nationwide.

The film boasts as many as seven Bollywood superstars as part of Shetty's giant Avengers-like ensemble on screen. With all the factors combined, Singham Again is looking at an opening in the range of Rs 35-40 crore nett on Friday. If it receives good word-of-mouth, it will boost the spot booking craze, leading to an even greater number.

This is the third part in the popular Singham franchise, and fifth in Shetty's cop-verse. A lot has been discussed about the film's storyline, which runs a parallel with the Hindu epic Ramayana. The film reimagines Ajay Devgn's Bajirao Singham as Lord Rama, Kareena Kapoor's Avni as Sita, Ranveer Singh's Simmba as Lord Hanuman, and Tiger Shroff as Laxman. There's Akshay Kumar who's seen as Jataiyu, another popular character from Ramayana, while Arjun Kapoor's Zubair is Ravana. Deepika Padukone, Jackie Shroff, Shweta Tiwari and Dayanand Shetty play other important characters in the film.

Even though the Kartik Aaryan-starrer has shown a slightly better performance in advance bookings than Singham Again, the latter's genre is unbeatable at the ticket window. It will be interesting to see which film finally ends up winning the opening day battle today.