Both Batla House and Mission Mangal have finally hit the screens today and as predicted the latter is off to a flying start at the Indian box office. As for John Abraham starrer, the action thriller is also set to take a good opening at the windows. Directed by Jagan Shakti and starring Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Sonakshi Sinha, Kriti Kulhari, Nithiya Menen and Sharman Joshi in the lead, Mission Mangal witnessed more than 50% occupancy during the morning shows across India whereas Nikhil Advani's Batla House witnessed approximately 25% occupancy during the morning shows as per Boxofficeindia.com. Mission Mangal Movie Review: Vidya Balan Is the True Hero in Akshay Kumar’s Engaging Ode to ISRO’s Mangalyaan Saga

Trade portal BOI has reported, "Mission Mangal has taken an excellent opening of 50-55% which is the second-best opening of the year after Bharat if we count Hindi films only. The pricing on ticket rates is similar to Bharat but the screen count is less with around 3100 screens and 10,500 shows across the country."

"Batla House has taken an ordinary opening of 20-25% which is far lower than last year's Satyameva Jayate. That film had scored very well in mass pockets and was ahead of Gold but the competition this time was multiplexes mainly as Batla House does not have anything for mass circuits and in the bigger multiplexes it has turned out to be a one-horse race." Batla House Movie Review: John Abraham’s Real-Life Based Thriller Is Too Convoluted and Long to Make an Impact

Mission Mangal, which is Akshay's second outing this year after Kesari, is based on India's successful Mars Orbiter Mission. And John Abraham's latest offering is also inspired by true events and is about the controversial Batla House encounter which took place in Delhi back in 2008.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 15, 2019 06:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).