Merry Christmas Box Office Collection: Katrina Kaif-Vijay Sethupathi Starrer has a Slow Start

Celebrated director Sriram Raghavan, known for his take on the neo-noir genre in Indian cinema, made a return to the big screen with the long-anticipated Merry Christmas. Apart from Raghavan’s trademark twists, audiences were also looking forward to the unexpected pairing of Katrina Kaif (last seen in Tiger 3) and Vijay Sethupathi (last seen in Jawan). The film, which was initially slated for a release in December 2023, was postponed to 12th January instead. Merry Christmas was simultaneously shot in Hindi and Tamil, and will be streaming on Netflix in the near future.

According to Sacnilk Entertainment, the wintry thriller opened at Rs. 2.45 crore across languages on Friday. Early estimates report that the numbers picked up over the weekend, bringing in Rs. 3.45 crore on Saturday and Rs. 3.75 crore on Sunday, with the total collection stopping just shy of the 10-crore mark. 

Film distributor Akshaye Rathi said, “The performance of Merry Christmas has been reasonable but not up to the standards that you expect out of a maverick filmmaker like Sriram Raghavan, especially when he gets a very interesting and unique combination of actors like Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi.” Details about Merry Christmas, such as the name of the French novel from which it was adapted, were kept under wraps before the release, in order to preserve the suspense. Though the film has managed to pull in decent figures with word-of-mouth, it remains to be seen if it will sustain them in the week ahead. 

You can read reviews of Merry Christmas here and here.