Mastiii 4 has emerged as one of the biggest box office disasters of 2025, so much so that it will do less business than even Great Grand Masti which was a huge disaster as well. The franchise, one can safely say, has now come to a dead end. The sequel which released a week earlier, De De Pyaar De 2, has done better, but nowhere close to being optimal. De De Pyaar De was a 100 Crore Club success; this one will just about manage to cross 75 crores. A fair number, but doesn’t augur well with the credentials involved and the expectations one had with it. Will De De Pyaar De 3 be made? Well, it’s anybody’s guess.
So is this the end of the road for sequels and franchises, especially ones where the challenge is to actually take forward the story with the same characters? Well, let’s look at the results closely.
2025 has seen more disappointments than successes when it comes to taking forward a successful recipe.
War 2 has been the biggest disaster of 2025 when it comes to big ticket films. Baaghi 4 couldn’t do the business of firstbi. The franchise, Baaghi. Son Of Sardaar 2 was less than half of Son Of Sardaar. Dhadak 2 couldn’t even get a start. Metro… In Dino couldn’t build on the legacy of Life… In A Metro. Nishaanchi 2 couldn’t even get a theatrical release.
The only sequel which actually enhanced upon the business of the first in the series was Ajay Devgn’s Raid 2 as it scored over 150 crores. Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par also did more than double the business of Taare Zameen Par. Akshay Kumar’s troika of Kesari Chapter 2, Housefull 5 and Jolly LLB 3 emerged successful.
Still, we didn’t see the kind of big ticket blockbusters that would have indeed taken the business of the sequels/franchises to the next level. Many of the above mentioned films managed to collect respectfully, but then one expected more 200 Crore Club and 300 Crore Club biggies here.
What has been clearly established is that nothing can really be taken for granted. Whether it’s a big ticket extravaganza or a small franchise in the making, audiences are looking for a definite story and treatment which turns out to be value for money. If a Part 2/3/4 is made just for the sake of it because somewhere in the studio/production house it made sense from the commerce perspective then the audience is willing to look away. They aren’t really caring about the tag as they can sense what’s in the offering from the trailer stage itself.
While one waits to see how the last franchise of the year, Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2, fares, what has to be seen is the performance of the upcoming sequels and franchises of 2026 as none of these films can take anything for granted.
Border 2 is going to be the next big one this Republic Day season but what really needs to land well is the trailer. Alpha, Welcome To The Jungle, Drishyam 3, Mardaani 3, Dhamaal 4, Awarapan 2 – There is a lot relying on these films to make Bollywood tick again. These are just the films which are announced; there is more that’s coming.
These formulas are still willing to be churned out; the numbers still need to be correct.
