Directed by Kalees and co-starring Keerthy Suresh, ‘Baby John’ is the official Hindi remake of Vijay’s ‘Theri’

Varun Dhawan's Baby John opened to a modest start, collecting Rs 12.5 crore on its first day. Despite being Varun's best opening in five years, it faces tough competition from Pushpa 2 and Kannada hit Max.

The Rule, Varun Dhawan-starrer Baby John failed to churn out big on its opening day. On the Christmas Day holiday, even the dubbed Hindi version of Allu Arjun-starrer outshined Varun's film in terms of box office figures.

Baby John is Varun Dhawan's best-ever opening at the box office in the last five years. His previous releases Bhediya (2022) earned Rs 7.48 crore on its first day, and Jugjugg Jeeyo (2022) collected Rs 9.28 crore on its opening day.

However, the film faced tough competition from Pushpa 2, the sequel to Allu Arjun’s blockbuster hit, Pushpa: The Rise. Pushpa 2 was released earlier, on December 5, and continued to show impressive box office performance even after weeks in theaters.

After much anticipation and hype, Baby John, starring Varun Dhawan in the lead, released in theatres on December 25, on the occasion of Christmas, and looks like the festive mood has benefitted the makers. On its first day, Baby John minted Rs 12.50 crore in theatres, thus becoming Varun's biggest opener in the past five years.

Despite getting the push from being a Christmas holiday release, Varun Dhawan’s Baby John had a decent opening day collection at the box office. The Kalees directorial's performance was mostly hit by the continued dominance of Allu Arjun's Pushpa 2 and the clash with Disney's Mufasa: The Lion King.