Box Office: Mollywood's Highest grosser CROWN to be grabbed by Empuraan by 2nd Friday; Manjummel Boys record to be shattered

The battle for Mollywood’s highest-grossing film is reaching its climax as Mohanlal's latest blockbuster Empuraan is set to surpass Manjummel Boys by its second Friday. The action thriller directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran has been unstoppable at the box office since its release on March 27, just before the Ugadi and Eid holidays. With a massive global collection expected to hit ₹230 crore in its first week, the film is rewriting history.

What makes this race even more significant is that two Malayalam films, with one being a star-studded action thriller and the other a content-driven survival drama, are now competing for the top spot. While the first one is Empuraan, the other one is Manjummel Boys which stunned Malayalam audiences last year. This highlights the growing strength of Mollywood, which is now producing films that can rival big-budget Indian cinema.

The Box Office battle: Empuraan vs. Manjummel Boys

Mohanlal, a name synonymous with box office dominance, is set to reclaim the No.1 position after Manjummel Boys dethroned Lucifer as Mollywood’s highest-grossing film earlier. Also directed by Prithviraj, Lucifer was the first Malayalam movie to cross ₹200 crore globally, and its sequel Empuraan was always expected to go bigger.

Meanwhile, Manjummel Boys became a box office sensation purely through strong word-of-mouth. With no major stars and minimal promotions, the survival thriller crossed ₹225 crore worldwide, proving that content is king. Unlike Empuraan, which had enormous hype and a massive promotional campaign, Manjummel Boys thrived on the love of the audience only. But while Manjummel Boys took weeks to grow, Empuraan is breaking records at an explosive pace and might dethrone the former by its second Friday (Day 10) at the Box Office. 

The success of Empuraan signals a shift in Malayalam cinema’s scale of filmmaking, but then, scoring high with low-budgeted films always gives immense satisfaction. While most Mollywood films were traditionally made within a ₹6-20 crore budget, Empuraan was produced at a staggering ₹100 crore. If Manjummel Boys which was made on a ₹20 crore budget could collect 11 times its cost, Empuraan would need to gross at least ₹500-1000 crore to match that profitability.

For now, Empuraan is on track to grab the crown at the Kerala Box Office. But how far can it go? The coming weeks will decide.

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