John Abraham beats Akshay Kumar: Welcome Back becomes second highest opener of 2015!

Welcome had Akshay Kumar as the star face. Welcome Back was made seven years later, sans Akshay. John Abraham has come in his place and Anil Kapoor and Nanan Patekar reprised their roles. There was a little risk involved given that the star face from the original was missing. But everything seems to have worked for the film as Welcome Back turned out to be the second highest opener of the year. 

Welcome Back, which released last Friday had the audiences flocking to the theatres, given that it's made for a family audience. While many trade analysts had predicted a good opening, they had also mentioned that the absence of an Akshay Kumar might have hindered the film's box office collections. All that has turned out to be untrue as the film has already managed to rake in around Rs 14.35 crore at the box office on Friday. With that, the film has also become the second highest opener of the year. 

Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan still has the biggest opening day this year. But it was Varun Dhawan-Shraddha Kapoor's ABCD 2 which collected around Rs 14.28 crore on its opening day which just got displaced from its position. Surprisingly, the film has also opened better than all the three Akshay films that have released so far in 2015. Despite poor reviews, the film is looking to face phenomenal growth over the weekend, given that Saturday is Janmashtami and Sunday, too will be usual holiday. So an opening weekend of around Rs 50 crore can be expected if the film hold on well.