Liger box office prediction: Vijay Deverakonda's film to have a worrisome opening?

Liger box office prediction day 1: Vijay Deverakonda starrer Liger was released in the theatres on Thursday, August 25. Liger is a romantic sports action film in which Vijay Deverakonda will be seen as an MMA fighter. The film also stars Ananya Panday.

Ahead of the film's release, the star cast -- Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday, left no stone unturned in promoting Liger. However, the much-hyped Liger seems to be incapable of drawing audiences. The first-day occupancy of the shows have been low, which may show up in a worrisome opening.

Film trade analyst Karan Taurani of Elara Capital told IANS: "The current response to Liger is poor. We had earlier estimated that the film will open at Rs 30-35 crore in the South, but the response to the film in Telugu markets has been below par."

Going by the trends, the anticipated lifetime collections of the film, too, have taken a beating from the earlier projected numbers.

READ: Liger: Vijay Deverakonda reveals how he'd react if film flops at the box office, says 'the audience is...'

"The lifetime collections of the film were expected to be Rs 170-180 crore, out of which 25 per cent was to come from the Hindi market, but looking at the current trends, the film is likely to achieve a lifetime figure of Rs 55-60 crore," Taurani said. "Out of these Rs 60 crore, Rs 10 crore will come from the Hindi territory. Liger may report a below-par performance across markets," he added.

But why is the film, which had a good buzz around it, finding itself in such a situation? The answer is the lacklustre content that Puri Jagannath, the man at the helm, has delivered.

"One has to really blame the kind of content that's coming out these days," noted Taurani. "It is failing on every front to pull crowd into theatres. Even for Liger, people have seen something similar in 2015 in the Akshay Kumar and Sidharth Malhotra-starrer Brothers," Taurani added, pointing that the film gets beaten on the "novelty factor".

As to what will exactly work at the box office in days to come, the trade analyst said the industry needs to do a lot of introspection and pull up its socks to up the game. "That's the only way the industry can save itself from financial losses and the embarrassment that dawns upon it every Friday," he said.

"Only films with good and realistic VFX and event films with exceptional content will work in the box office," Taurani said.

Earlier, during the press conference in Delhi, when Vijay Deverakonda was asked how he would react if the film fails to do well at the box office, Vijay spoke in Hindi and said, "Had you asked me this question a few years back, I would have replied with anger. I would have been so angry. However, with the kind of love that I have received in the last few days, it would be a disrespect to that (love) if I react angrily to such small things around. I want to remember the love. The audience is important, we work for them, and we travel cities just to meet them and we want to win their love."

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