Mumbai: Even though Bollywood is still struggling at the box office, Hollywood and South Indian tentacles are climbing to unprecedented heights. The recently released superhero film ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’, starring shirtless Chris Hemsworth and Christian Bale, earned Rs 64.80 crore (Rs 83.61 crore minus GST) domestically in the first four days of its theatrical run. According to trade sources.
Noting that Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Samrat Prithviraj’, despite being tax-free in three major states, earned Rs 82.3 crore during its entire theatrical run, to quote Internet Movie Database (IMDB) data. was capable of. The movie watching masses in India clearly like their superheroes to be the winners.
Commenting on the figures, independent film trade analyst Sumit Kadel said that ‘Thor’ has seen the fifth highest opening weekend for a Hollywood film in India.
“Out of Bollywood, only Kartik Aaryan-starrer ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2′ managed to garner Rs 65 crore in its opening weekend”, he said. He credits Thor’s powerful cast and Marvel Studios’ brand value for pulling in the crowd.
Even as sleeper hit, ‘The Kashmir Files’ had a lukewarm opening weekend, it got picked up due to positive word of mouth. ‘The Kashmir Files’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ and ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ are the only Hindi films in IMDb Top 10.
Incidentally, the Indian box-office numbers for ‘Thor’ mirrored that of the United States, where the film grossed $143 million in its opening weekend, making it the third most profitable after ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. Release made. $187.4 million) and ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ ($145 million).
Will ‘Thor’ be able to sustain its initial boom? The collections are likely to see a dip, but it will still cross the Rs 100 crore safe zone. This will be well behind the Rs 217.52 crore made by ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, but closer to the Rs 127.31 crore earned by ‘Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ – both films being Marvel releases, incidentally.
So, how will the upcoming big releases of Bollywood fare in this market? According to Kadel, ‘Shamshera’ may bring some relief, given that it is an ‘event film’ and the buzz about its music can ensure a good start.
However, the stakes are high for both Ranbir Kapoor, who is returning to the big screen after four years, and YRF, the production house directed by Aditya Chopra, which has seen three of its recent releases – ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’ ‘, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ and ‘Samrat Prithviraj’ are rocking the box office.
Talking about Mani Ratnam’s upcoming epic, ‘Ponniyin Selvan: I’, Kadel said that the film has been extensively pitched with a good cast to support the high production values. It is most likely to further cement the hold of South Indian cinema at the pan-India box office.
As far as the clashes over the long Independence Day weekend with the release of Aamir Khan starrer ‘Lal Singh Chaddha’ and Akshay Kumar’s ‘Raksha Bandhan’ next month are concerned, both the films will give a tough fight to each other. , but will either of them ring happily at the box office?