Housefull 5 made its way to cinema theatres on June 6, 2025, opening to decent first-day collections but receiving mixed to poor reviews. The ensemble comedy-slash-murder mystery boasts a massive cast, including Sanjay Dutt, Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Fardeen Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Dino Morea, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Chitrangda Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Soundarya Sharma, Chunky Pandey, Nikitin Dheer, and Johnny Lever. ‘Housefull 5’ Movie Review: Akshay Kumar Overshadows All in This Sleazier, Sillier Comic Murder Mystery.

The film is directed by Tarun Mansukhani, marking his first theatrical release since the 2008 romcom Dostana. His second film, Drive, had a direct OTT release on Netflix in 2019. The screenplay, co-written by Mansukhani and Farhad Samji, is based on a story by producer Sajid Nadiadwala. Housefull 5 is set on a luxury cruise liner and centres around three men who each claim to be the illegitimate son of a deceased billionaire - the sole heir to his vast fortune. Meanwhile, a mysterious masked killer is also on board.

Watch the Trailer of 'Housefull 5':

An interesting gimmick Housefull 5 offers is the release of two different versions in theatres, each with an alternate climax revealing a different killer. While not an entirely novel idea globally, it’s a first for Hindi cinema. But did this trick work in the film’s favour?

First Weekend Collections (India) for 'Housefull 5'

Thanks to the franchise’s brand value and an enticing cast led by Akshay Kumar’s star power, Housefull 5 enjoyed a decent box office weekend.

According to official figures shared by the makers, Housefull 5 has netted INR 91.83 crore in India. While that’s not bad, expectations were higher - particularly as this is the fifth film in a major franchise - and many anticipated it would cross the INR 100 crore mark in its opening weekend.

That said, Housefull 5 has achieved the best opening weekend numbers of the franchise by a long shot, overtaking the previous best, Housefull 3 (2016), which collected INR 53.31 crore.

Housefull 5 also has the second-best opening weekend for a Bollywood film in 2025, beating Raid 2 (INR 73.83 crore) but falling short of Chhaava (INR 121.43 crore).

So, is this opening weekend a strong indicator that Housefull 5 will sustain momentum and become a hit? Let’s find out…

The Budget of 'Housefull 5'

According to early reports, there were claims that Housefull 5 was made on a staggering budget of INR 375 crore - a figure that feels rather incredulous, considering none of the previous films in the franchise even crossed INR 200 crore in lifetime Indian collections.

However, as the release date drew nearer, newer reports suggested the budget was closer to INR 225 crore. It’s unclear whether this figure includes distribution, marketing/PR costs, and Akshay Kumar’s profit share (if applicable). Even so, if INR 225 crore is taken as the final budget, the film would need to gross over INR 350 crore worldwide just to break even. ‘Housefull 5’: Fact Check – Is Akshay Kumar’s ‘Housefull’ Really India’s First Five-Film Franchise? Bengali, Malayalam and Even Bollywood Cinema Say Otherwise!

Lifetime Collections of Previous 'Housefull' Films in India

1. Housefull (2010) – INR 75.62 crore

2. Housefull 2 (2012) – INR 106 crore

3. Housefull 3 (2016) – INR 109.14 crore

4. Housefull 4 (2019) – INR 194.60 crore

It is now crucial to monitor how the film performs in the coming days. With no major Bollywood releases until Sitaare Zameen Par lands on June 20, Housefull 5 effectively enjoys a free run at the box office. Business in metropolitan cities may be impacted slightly by the release of Hollywood titles like the How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake and Ballerina: From the World of John Wick, but otherwise, it faces little immediate competition.

The main challenge now is to keep drawing audiences back to theatres - despite facing major criticism for its sleazy comedy, which seems at odds with the film’s attempt to present itself as a family entertainer.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 09, 2025 12:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).