3 min readMumbaiMar 5, 2026 09:59 PM IST
The countdown has begun for one of the year’s most anticipated films, Dhurandhar 2, which is expected to make waves at the box office, much like its predecessor did nearly three months ago, breaking records and dominating every major release. Expectations are even higher for the sequel, especially now that it no longer clashes with Yash’s Toxic, which has shifted its release to June 4. While the trailer is set to launch on Friday afternoon, advance tickets are already open in the U.S., where the film has seen a strong response.
According to trade tracker Ramesh Bala, Dhurandhar 2 has grossed $238,517 in pre-sales alone and shows the potential to surpass Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal in the U.S., which previously registered the highest premiere pre-sales for a Bollywood film in North America, grossing a staggering $1.2 million from premiere screenings.
Providing further insight into the business, Akshay Rathie, exhibitor and director of Aashirwad Theatres Pvt. Ltd., emphasizes that the collections for Dhurandhar 2 could be historic. “So, it absolutely has the potential to do that. Animal, of course, was a fresh film with a lot of buzz, but Dhurandhar 2 is a mammoth coming with the backing of the huge success of the first one. And therefore, in North America, as well as the domestic markets, it has the potential to be one of the highest openers in history,” he told Variety India.
In the lead-up to the sequel, R Madhavan recently told Sonia Shenoy on her YouTube channel that anticipation for Dhurandhar 2 is so high that fans from the UAE, where the film is banned, are expected to travel to India just to watch it. “Now they’re planning their business meetings around March 19 when Dhurandhar 2 is releasing, they’ll go there for meetings, watch the film, and then return, as it’s banned in the UAE. For them, it would be so easy to just watch it on IPTV, okay? And I’m sure they could. But they want to experience watching a film like Dhurandhar in a theatre full of people. That gives you a community experience. Cinema allows that. Watching the same film alone at home feels completely different. It’s like performing dandiya in front of the TV. Dandiya is something you go out and play on the ground, with people around you.”
