Race 3 box office collection Day 1: Salman Khan's film becomes highest opener of 2018

ike every year, Salman Khan had a treat for his fans this Eid - Race 3. "Salmania" has gripped the country, with fans celebrating the release of the film in several ways, from larger-than-life cardboard cutouts of Salman Khan to customised Race 3 T-shirts. The film is all the more special, as it marks the onscreen reunion of Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez after their 2014 hit, Kick.

Race 3 was off to a great start at the box office, with an opening day collection of Rs 29.17 crore. If the early figures are anything to go by, Race 3 has dethroned Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani-starrer Baaghi 2 to become the highest opening film of the year so far.

At the trailer launch of Race 3, Salman described it as "a film with big scale music, emotion, action, youth kind, which you watch, whistle in the end and go back home happy". And if the opening day figures are anything to go by, the audience is lapping it up.

The story of Race 3 revolves around Shamsher Singh (Anil Kapoor), the owner of an arms empire, and his family. His children, twins Sanjana (Daisy Shah) and Suraj (Saqib Saleem), are "sick of this Sikku" aka their half-brother Sikander Singh (Salman Khan). The family has to pull off a bank heist, but with deceit and double-crossings at every corner, will they be able to do it?
Buzz is that the makers of Race 3 are laughing all the way to the bank, with the film having recovered its production costs even before it hit the screens. Race has beat Aamir Khan's Dangal to fetch the highest satellite deal for a Bollywood film ever. According to reports, the satellite rights of the film have been sold for a staggering Rs 130 crore.

With the next big Bollywood release, Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju, hitting the screens on June 29, Race 3 has a two-week window to rake in the moolah.