Director Vysakh's film Khalifa, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead role, hit theatres on August 20, Thursday. The film opened to mostly mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Despite the word of mouth and competition from the Nivin Pauly-starrer Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, it opened well at the box office. According to a poster that Vysakh shared on social media, it has earned 22.85 crore from theatres worldwide on the first two days of its release.
At the India box office alone, the film earned 11.64 crore, according to data from the tracker Sacnilk. The Sacnilk data also shows a drop in the Khalifa box office collection over the first three days of its release in India. It opened to a net collection of 5.35 crore on release day, which dropped to 2.40 crore on Friday and further down to 1.90 crore on Saturday. So far this Sunday, it has earned 33 lakh from theatres in India.
It remains to be seen how the film will fare at the box office in the coming days. There are no major releases in Malayalam cinema until Dulquer Salmaan's I'm Game hits theatres on September 03, Thursday. The film, directed by Nahas Hidhayath of RDX fame, was earlier scheduled for an Onam release before it backed out of the festival race.
Interestingly, this is not the first time a Prithviraj film and a Nivin Pauly starrer released during the Onam season. Previously, Nivin's Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela and Prithviraj's Adam Joan hit theatres on September 01, 2017, with the former outperforming the latter critically and commercially. Further, Nivin's Love Action Drama and Prithviraj's Brother's Day hit theatres on September 05, 2019, and September 06, 2019, respectively.
