Mohanlal and Prithviraj sukumaran’s much-hyped thriller L2: Empuraan is facing a sharp decline in box office collections, crashing by over 80% in its third week. The film, which opened to massive numbers and strong buzz, has shown a steep downward trend, earning just Rs 2.53 crore in six days of third week as per Sacnilk.
The numbers reflect a stark contrast to the film’s earlier performance. In its first week, L2: Empuraan stormed the box office with a phenomenal Rs 88.25 crore, riding high on Mohanlal’s magnetic screen presence and Prithviraj’s directorial vision. The second week saw a noticeable dip, collecting Rs 14.65 crore — a drop of over 83%. However, the third week has been even more dismal, as the film failed to sustain momentum, bringing in just Rs 2.53 crore for six days.Thus taking the overall collection of the film to Rs 105.43 crore.
This dramatic fall in collections suggests that while the initial curiosity and fan base pushed the film to impressive early numbers, it lacked the staying power to hold audiences over the long run. The film, thanks to stupendous success in the first week, has gone on to become the highest grossing Malayalam film of all time and second biggest film in Kerala.
The film also faced controversy with the depiction of 2002 Gujarat riot, thus leading to Mohanlal issuing an apology on social media. The apology was later shared by actor-director Prithviraj. The controversy led to makers making voluntary cuts in the film and since then the film’s appeal has witnessed a visible drop.
The movie, a sequel to the 2019 blockbuster Luciferhad immense expectations riding on it, and while it delivered in parts, sustaining the buzz has proven difficult.
Though makers have already begun working on the third part of the film which has been titled L3: The Beginning. Mohanlal’s son Pranav has been roped in to play the younger self of Stephern Nedumpally.
