Cinema VinesThe Onam box‑office race in Kerala is leaning decisively towards Girish A D’s latest venture, Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, as it gains traction in bookings and audience response compared to Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Khalifa. Both films opened during the festive season and are vying for the top spot among the major Malayalam releases, but the former has been building momentum since its release.
Social media chatter is replete with viewers proclaiming Bethlehem Kudumba Unit the Onam winner, citing its steady ticket sales and growing word‑of‑mouth buzz. The film has also set a new milestone for Nivin Pauly, earning a reported ₹4.90 crore net on its opening day in India and ₹15.70 crore worldwide.
BookMyShow data reveals a stark contrast in recent ticket sales: Bethlehem Kudumba Unit sold approximately 17,420 tickets in the last 24 hours, whereas Khalifa managed only about 1,980 sales in the same period. Meanwhile, Khalifa, directed by Vysakh, has seen a decline in theatrical earnings for the third straight day.
On Saturday, Khalifa earned an estimated ₹1.90 crore net in India across 1,340 shows, following a first‑day collection of ₹5.35 crore net and a Friday take of ₹2.40 crore net. Its third‑day collection dropped roughly 20.8 % from the second day. The film’s total net in India now stands at ₹9.65 crore, with a gross of about ₹11.25 crore.
Conversely, Bethlehem Kudumba Unit has continued to benefit from overseas markets, adding roughly ₹13 crore to its overseas gross on Saturday and pushing the total overseas collection to ₹23.20 crore. The worldwide gross has climbed to approximately ₹37.25 crore.
