The much-anticipated prequel Mufasa: The Lion King is set to make a strong debut at the Indian box office. According to early box office reports, the film is reportedly tracking an opening of Rs 10 crore net. The film, a prequel to ‘The Lion King’, has garnered attention for its star-studded voice cast in the Hindi and Telugu versions, including Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and South icon Mahesh Babu.
Ahead of its release on Friday, the film sold approximately 65,000 tickets in advance bookings at national chains in India, with 35,000 of those for the opening day alone. The Telugu version, featuring Mahesh Babu in the voice cast, recorded particularly strong pre-sales.
Meanwhile, the Hindi version that sees Shah Rukh reprising his role as Mufasa, will also see his sons Aryan Khan and AbRam Khan joining the voice cast. Aryan lends his voice to Simba, while AbRam makes his voice-actor debut as the younger version of Mufasa.In addition to the Khan boys, the Hindi cast also includes Meiyang Chang as Taka, Shreyas Talpade and Sanjay Mishra returning as the voices of Timon and Pumbaa.
With strong pre-sales and the star power heading the various dubbed verisons of the film, ‘Mufasa’ is expected to earn between Rs 8-9 crore on its opening day. The film could surpass these projections through solid walk-in earnings, meeting the Rs 10 crore mark if not surpassing it.
Should it cross the mark, then it would be on par with its predecessor, the 2019 blockbuster ‘The Lion King’ which earned an impressive Rs 11.10 crore on its first day and went on to become a major box office success by crossing the Rs 100 crore mark in India.
‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ delves into the backstory of the iconic 1994 animated classic, offering fans an opportunity to explore the origins of the beloved character who goes on to become the king of the Pride Lands.
The film will face stiff competition at the Indian box office from Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule‘. Meanwhile, at the international box office, the film will face competition from ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 3‘.
