Mohanlal's L2: Empuraan Storms Box Office With Rs 22 Crore Debut

“L2: Empuraan,” the much-hyped sequel directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran and starring Malayalam icon Mohanlal, roared into theaters on Thursday, raking in Rs 22 crore nett across India on its opening day, as per early estimates from trade tracker Sacnilk.

The action-packed follow-up to 2019’s “Lucifer” has smashed records, cementing its place as the biggest opener in Malayalam cinema history.

Sacnilk’s breakdown shows the Malayalam version dominating with Rs 19.45 crore, while Telugu added Rs 1.2 crore, Tamil Rs 80 lakh, Hindi Rs 50 lakh, and Kannada Rs 5 lakh. The film team has yet to release official figures, but pre-release buzz was sky-high, with makers claiming Rs 80 crore in advance bookings alone by Wednesday.

This eclipses past benchmarks—Prithviraj’s “Aadujeevitham” (2024) opened at Rs 7.6 crore nett, and Mohanlal’s “Marakkar: The Lion of The Arabian Sea” (2021) hit Rs 6.8 crore nett.

Billed as one of Malayalam cinema’s priciest ventures, “L2: Empuraan” sees Mohanlal reprising his enigmatic Stephen Nedumpally aka Khureshi-Ab’raam. Penned by Murali Gopy and produced by Antony Perumbavoor, Gokulam Gopalan, and Subaskaran Allirajah, the film boasts a stellar cast including Prithviraj, Tovino Thomas, Manju Warrier, Abhimanyu Singh, Jerome Flynn, and Eriq Ebouaney.

With its pan-India release and massive first-day haul, the trilogy’s second chapter is off to a thunderous start, setting the stage for a potential box office juggernaut.