January jinx at the box office: A real phenomenon or myth? Will 'Happy Patel', Sunny Deol's 'Border 2' break that in 2026? Trade experts weigh in - EXCLUSIVE

For the longest time now, the month of January has been considered a 'jinxed' month for Bollywood. For years now, there have been movies which released in Janaury and did not work at the box office, which led to a term called 'January jinx' within the industry. Last year in 2025, we saw movies like Shahid Kapoor's 'Deva' and Kangana Ranaut's 'Emergency', 'Azaad', Ram Charan's 'Gamechanger', and 'Skyforce' which released in January.

Out of these, only 'Skyforce' did moderately well at the box office and made Rs 112.75 crore in India, according to Sacnilk. The rest of the movies did not work. But is this January jinx for real or just a myth?

Trade expert Taran Adarsh says, "I pointed this out in 1990s where it used to happen. And this year also, of course, we had a case as 'Ikkis' released on January 1, it didn't work. But, I think there have been instances where the films have worked also in the past. This January jinx is there. But you know, more than that, the content has to be good. If the content is good, then no matter what date you release the film in, it can face any storm or any period and emerge victorious."

Exhibitor Akkshay Rathie adds further, "There have been enough and more exceptions to this January jinx rule. I remember Hrithik Roshan's 'Agneepath' had come on the 26th January weekend. There have been a bunch of Akshay Kumar films that have come on the 26th January weekend as well and all of them have done incredibly well. Having said that, it's been a few years since all of this happened, and it's purely a coincidence that in January we've not been able to dish out the best of our films in recent times."

He further says, "Having said that, it's purely a question of one movie coming along in breaking, shattering that jinx. I'm hoping, this year that film is 'Border 2'. It has all the elements - the cast, the scale, the genre, the franchise value, the mass outreach of Sunny Deol as a megastar, all of that at play and plus Anurag Singh, who's a phenomenal director and storyteller when it comes to especially films like these. So pretty hopeful that this year is the last year that we'll be able to talk about January jinx."

Agneepath, Pathaan, Rang De Basanti, Uri, Padmaavat: Exceptions to the January jinx

There have been several exceptions to the January jinx over the years, especially by movies which have released on January 26, Republic day. This holiday period, especially if it comes around the weekend, is considered a great day for big releases. In the past we've seen movies like 'Rang De Basanti', Shah Rukh Khan's 'Pathaan', Hrithik Roshan starrer 'Agneepath', Akshay Kumar's 'Airlift', 'Baby', 'Padmaavat' and 'Fighter' which have done exceptionally well at the box office. Vicky Kaushal's 'Uri: The Surgical Strike' had also released in January and it proved to be a sleeper hit that time.

So, while the Republic day releases usually have performed well, it's usually the first and second week of January which is considered 'jinxed'. When asked about the reason for it, Taran Adarsh says, "I guess generally people used to be celebrating Christmas and New Year together and after all the celebrations, they wouldn't necessarily want to go to the theatres immediately. Moreover, films that used to release that time, were not really significant enough to make people go and watch them. But if a really good film comes, people will go to the theatres. It all depends on the content."

A dull January 2026 so far, all hopes from 'Border 2'

January 2026 so far has been very slow box office wise because now 'Dhurandhar' has slowed down after entering its sixth week. Meanwhile, 'Ikkis' which released on Janaury 1, did not perform exceptionally. Meanwhile, Prabhas starrer biggie 'The Raja Saab' also crashed immediately after a decent opening weekend. On January 16, one sees 'Happy Patel' and 'Rahu Ketu' releasing and both started dull. Now all hopes are from 'Border 2'. Rathi adds further, "The movies that have released this week, be it 'Happy Patel' or 'Rahu Ketu', they are again very 'multiplex-y' urban releases in that sense. But again, 'Border 2' looks like the film that will release across the length and breadth of the country very widely and hopefully get in the good numbers. Keeping our fingers crossed that if not the opening few days and weeks, then at least the opening month of 2026, turns out to be memorable with this film."Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”