Toxic beats Dhurandhar's opening before 12 pm despite backlash

Yash’s Toxic brushed aside negative reviews and online trolling to move past Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar opening-day India nett before noon on Wednesday. This gave the Geetu Mohandas directorial a strong start at the box office. Released in cinemas for the Onam holiday, the film drew crowds across India despite chatter around its violence and intimate scenes.As per Sacnilk, Toxic had crossed the Rs 30 crore mark and collected Rs 31.76 crore nett across 9,003 tracked shows by 12.40 pm. This took the film's total India gross to Rs 37.48 crore.The morning occupancy figures pointed to a strong showing in the home market, with the Kannada 2D version recording 77.69 per cent occupancy. The Telugu version followed with 57.08 per cent, while the Tamil and Malayalam versions posted 45.25 per cent and 40.13 per cent respectively. The Hindi version opened at 37.85 per cent.Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar had earned Rs 28.60 crore nett and Rs 33.60 crore gross on its first day at the Indian box office. Opening-day expectationsToxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups had gone into release with trade expectations of a worldwide Day 1 haul in the Rs 100-120 crore range, which would place it alongside some of the biggest Indian openers in recent years. The film is Yash’s first release after KGF: Chapter 2, and if it lands at the upper end of that range, its opening would be comparable with major blockbusters. For context, Animal opened to Rs 116 crore worldwide gross and posted an India nett of Rs 63.80 crore on Day 1, while Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan recorded a worldwide gross of Rs 129.13 crore.In India, the Hindi version alone is projected to contribute more than Rs 40 crore. If the film crosses Rs 100 crore worldwide on opening day, it will become only the second Kannada film after KGF: Chapter 2 to do so. The strong opening expectations were supported by the scale of the release and the advance sales. Toxic reportedly opened on more than 12,000 screens worldwide, while Lionsgate is distributing the English version internationally. The film’s wide release, Yash’s pan-India popularity, the KGF factor and the absence of major direct competition were seen as key reasons behind the early box-office momentum.Advance booking had strengthened in the run-up to release, with the film selling more than 1 million tickets for Day 1. India advance sales crossed Rs 58.27 crore without block seats, with more than 18.48 lakh tickets sold across 25,654 shows. Including block seats, India’s total advance booking stood at Rs 73.43 crore, while worldwide pre-sales were around Rs 85 crore. The film also recorded strong interest overseas, particularly in the US market.The Hindi market remains central to the film’s overall prospects. Initial trade expectations had placed the Hindi version above Rs 20 crore, but the trailer response and rising advance sales pushed those estimates higher.As of 10 am on Wednesday, Toxic was running across 5,334 shows and had recorded an India nett of Rs 19.18 crore, taking its India gross to Rs 22.63 crore at that stage.More about the filmIndia Today gave Toxic a rating of 2 stars. A part of the review read, "The plot of Toxic is simply too complicated to convey through a synopsis. On one end, the story and the depth of its characters get buried under the film's fast-paced edits. On the other, whenever the director slows down to explore these moments, the film loses pace and engagement, becoming too immersed in emotions that it hasn't quite earned."Directed by Geetu Mohandas, Toxic stars Yash alongside Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Huma Qureshi, Rukmini Vasanth and Tara Sutaria. The film released in theatres on August 26 in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and English. It has been in the news for its steamy intimate scenes and for sequences that appear to show women in a not-so-favourable light through imagery and dialogue. The CBFC cleared the film with no cuts and gave it an A certificate.- EndsPublished By: Priyanka SharmaPublished On: Aug 26, 2026 14:32 IST