In a decade ender series, Bollywood Hungama reported how Salman Khan dominated the last decade from 2010 to 2019 with a series of blockbuster, super-hits and an uninterrupted streak of over 15 films earning Rs. 100 crore or more. The superstar is still going strong at the box-office with Tiger 3 being his biggest bet to earn over Rs. 300 crore at the box-office. But that’s still 2 years away, and in the same span, Akshay Kumar is all set to have as many as 8 films lined up for release belonging to different genres with promising names, which definitely gives him the chance to be the new number one star of Bollywood in 2021.
“Akshay has films like Sooryavanshi, Atrangi Re, Bell Bottom, Prithviraj and Raksha Bandhan up for release next year, with each film standing a potential of earning bare minimum Rs. 100 crore at the box-office. The least that these five films can collectively earn in the year is Rs. 500 crore, with films like Sooryavanshi and Prithviraj also standing a huge chance to enter the Rs. 200 crore club. Akshay is looking to contribute around Rs. 700 to 800 crores at the box-office next year, thereby emerging the most bankable name of Bollywood. Akshay’s best ever collections at the India box office has been Rs. 757 crores in the year 2019 with 4 releases” a trade source told Bollywood Hungama.
That’s not all, over the last 2 years, Akshay has shown a solid consistency at the box-office with an upward box-office graph and it’s about time, he attains the number one spot. “From 2.0 till Housefull 4, Akshay is witnessing a dream run at the box-office. His last two underperformers were Padman and Gold, however ever since then, the numbers speak for themselves thereby cementing his position in the industry as guarantee Kumar of modern times. While he is close at second spot right now in 2020, just next to Salman, owing to Salman’s ability to open big at the box-office purely on the basis of his stardom, the tables stand a chance to turn next year. Salman has just Radhe and Antim gearing up for release in 2021. His last release, Dabangg 3 was also an underperformer, thereby putting him in a little vulnerable spot,” the source further shared, adding that bumper opening for both Radhe and Antim, irrespective of the total box-office collections will help Salman retain his number one spot next year as well.
“But it’s Akshay who is functioning like a mini-industry right now and the magnitude of films as also the credibility of names working with him, gives him the edge of emerging the winner next year given the potential of his releases to earn on paper as compared to his competitor.” While there is a close call between Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar for the top two spots, the rest of Bollywood is not even in competition with the two giants. While Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan are taking longer breaks and prefer staying away from the rat race of numbers, Shah Rukh Khan has not had a really good run at the box-office in the last 6 years. Ranveer Singh at the moment is the closest to the two seniors given his run at the box-office in last 2 years as also the potential of his upcoming releases like 83, Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Cirkus. Ajay too is on the front-foot post the historic success of Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior.
Stay tuned for more number crunching analysis on top stars of Bollywood. Do note, the ranking is decided taking into account several factors like opening day collections, verdict and lifetime numbers, however the opening day collections hold the maximum weightage as day one is the sign of stardom, whereas lifetime, though elevated to a certain extent by stardom, is often decided by content.
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