The Indian box office is heating up this week as two highly anticipated films, Housefull 5 and Thug Life, gear up for release just a day apart. While Housefull 5, the latest installment in the popular comedy franchise headlined by Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan and Ritiesh Deshmukh , enjoys brand recall and a loyal fanbase, it’s Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life that’s emerging as the front-runner in terms of Day 1 advance booking numbers.As per the latest data, Thug Life has registered an impressive Rs 3.42 crore gross in advance bookings (excluding block seats), selling over 2 lakh tickets across9050 shows. Factoring in block seats, the total shoots up to a massive Rs 9.72 crore, reflecting the film’s tremendous hype among audiences. The film has particularly dominated in Tamil Nadu, where it raked in Rs 2.94 crore in the Tamil 2D format alone, with 1.7 lakh tickets sold.In comparison, Housefull 5 has managed a Rs 2.15 crore gross in Day 1 advance bookings (excluding block seats), selling over 70,000 tickets across 10549 shows. Including block seats, its total stands at Rs 5.7 crore — a respectable figure for a comedy entertainer but notably behind Thug Life.What makes this trend more striking is the genre and audience base these films cater to. Housefull 5, with its slapstick humor and multi-star cast, traditionally appeals to a pan-India audience across metros and tier-2 cities. Yet, it appears to be lagging behind Thug Life, a gritty gangster drama helmed by Mani Ratnam, a director known for his intense narratives and urban-centric appeal with it’s reach limited to Tamil audience and post Kamal Haasan’s language controversy- the film wont be releasing in Karnataka.A key factor contributing to Thug Life’s lead is Kamal Haasan’s monumental comeback with Mani Ratnam’ and their combineds brand value and the ensemble cast including STR, Trisha, Joju George, and Ali Fazal. The film’s buzz in South Indian markets, especially Tamil Nadu and Telugu states, is palpable — with premium formats like IMAX and 4DX also contributing to its numbers.Additionally, Thug Life’s stronger performance in Hindi markets, though modest at Rs 14.4 lakh in 2D advance bookings, edges past expectations for a non-Hindi mainstream film.With both films releasing just a day apart, the industry is closely watching this box office face-off. As it stands, Thug Life is clearly trending ahead — and unless Housefull 5 picks up momentum through word-of-mouth or strong spot bookings, Kamal Haasan might just steal the weekend spotlight.
