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Day 8: Varun Dhawan’s ‘Baby John’ crosses ₹35cr, does not grow at the Box Office anymore

Sanjana Bailwal2 years ago2 years ago437 mins

Baby John comes to a close on day 8 at the box office: Varun Dhawan’s film has not gotten into many theaters during the holiday season. Baby John box office collection: Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, and Wamiqa Gabbi star crumbled at the box office and has been hardly able to languish on the floor even after it released on Christmas day and thus provided a long weekend at the box office.

This is a remake of the Theri. The film had garnered mixed responses when it was released. Now, as per the latest update from Sacnilk.com, Baby John has finally broken its way past the ₹35 crore club on its first day in 2025

Baby John Box Office update:

As per early estimates, Baby John managed to mint ₹ 2.87 crore on the eighth day of its release. The action thriller movie is still to recover and collect double-digits after its opening day, but the chances seem dim after a week. The first day collection of Baby John was ₹ 11.25 crore, the highest collection in a single day for the film so far. From the second day onwards, it saw great declines, and even during the weekend, it did not show any significant improvement. Total collections stand at ₹ 35.52 crore.

Comparatively, Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2 The Rule eclipses Baby John in terms of performance. Pushpa 2 earned on the same day at the box office approximately ₹ 12.63 crores.

What went wrong for Baby John?

On the surface, everything stacked up perfectly for Baby John: the right mass genre, a popular star, Atlee in your corner, and a solid plot (backed by Theri’s success). But the formula was all theory. In practicality, Baby John has nothing going for it. It looks much more like a spoof than a remake and Varun was just not the one with the screen presence to carry mass action. He makes a good presence as the likeable or even goofy hero. But, in mass action, he was lacking. The stale treatment of the plot didn’t help. Kalees lacks Atlee’s finesse in packaging the old and presenting it as fresh. And the Salman Khan cameo was more groan-inducing than awe-inspiring.

Made for ₹160 crore, earned just ₹47 crore

For Varun Dhawan, Baby John has become a mass entertainer with lofty ambitions. The actor wanted it to be his big opening into the mass action genre, taking him from being one of the popular film stars to a highly potential A-lister in Bollywood, as everyone in this last few years seems to have wanted a dose of mass action-from Shah Rukh Khan to Manoj Bajpayee. Unfortunately, Baby John insinuated none. Neither was it anything for the critics, nor did it find its fans. It was a big flop at the cash counters.

Audiences have been yearning for more masala dramas within formulaic boundaries, but only if it is all done with finesse. Jawan, Pathaan, and Gadar 2 proved it. Tiger 3 and Bhaiyaa Ji didn’t measure up. Baby John faced the music even more. Perhaps it failure will stop Bollywood makers for a moment and make them realize that formula alone will not skyrocket a movie but the rest remains hollow.

Baby John Review

“Starts on a very choppy note, and there’s no soul in it for almost 40 minutes; no direction, all because of the cute girl bossing around her dad. With such dismal writing, this story will be attributed to Atlee, who has earlier given Jawan as a director and Theri as well. The hero seems to be his favorite. He did the same with Shah Rukh Khan in Jawan,” read the excerpt from Hindustan Times review of Baby John.

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