Box office: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever makes Rs12.5 cr on Day 1 in India, Uunchai is Big B's best this year

Marvel Studios’ 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' released in theatres on November 11, 2022. (Image: Screen grab from trailer/Marvel Studios)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has done the unexpected. It's the 11th month of 2022, and while many big releases that were expected to open well and find a place among the Top-10 openers of the year have fallen short, this Marvel flick that has stolen the march, coming in at the No. 8.

Here's the list of the Top-10 Hindi and Hollywood openers in India so far in 2022:

KGF - Chapter 2 (Hindi): Rs 53.95 crore

Brahmastra: Rs 37 crore

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Rs 28.35 crore

RRR (Hindi): Rs 20.7 crore

Ram Setu: Rs 15.25 crore

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2: Rs 14.11 crore

Bachchan Pandey: Rs 13.25 crore

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Rs 12.50 crore*

Laal Singh Chaddha: Rs 11.70 crore

Thor: Love and Thunder: Rs 11.40 crore

To be sure, opening day collection is no longer a clear indicator of the earning prospects of a film. After all, some of the films on the list went on to flop, losing hundreds of crores. While others, like Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, which actually made money aren't on it. Still, it is tradition to see release day numbers. And as can be seen, Wakanda Forever has edged out Laal Singh Chaddha and Marvel's own Thor: Love and Thunder.

In fact, there are three Marvel films in the Top-10, which is stupendous for the studio but speaks also to the reception that most Hindi films have got in theatres this year.

One wonders if these films (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Thor: Love and Thunder) along with south offerings (KGF - Chapter 2 and RRR in Hindi) wouldn't have been there, then how bad the Top-10 list would have looked. Reason being that there are only four more films this year which opened to double digit this year (Samrat Prithviraj, Vikram Vedha, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Shamshera), which means only 9 films out of Top-10 would have had a Rs 10 crore+ number to their name.

Point to ponder indeed!

Meanwhile, there are multiple Bollywood releases that have arrived this Friday - Uunchai, Rocket Gang and Thai Massage. The one which has seen numbers coming its way is Amitabh Bachchan-led Uunchai which is directed by Sooraj Barjatya and features Anupam Kher and Boman Irani as the other leads. The film has taken a start of Rs 1.81 crore. Word is that a strategy is being put together to give the film a controlled release, as, given its genre, it is didn't warrant a release on 1000 screens.

Regardless, this is Amitabh Bachchan's biggest opener yet this year, as it has surpassed Jhund (Rs 1.38 crore) and Goodbye (Rs 1 crore). None of these are great numbers as such but then when other stars are struggling to bring as much, here is the legendary actor at least managing to pull in audiences. In fact he has been one of the busiest actors around this year with roles in Brahmastra and Runway 34 as well. Not just that, there is KBC too, which means apart from Akshay Kumar, he has clearly been the busiest around!

*Estimates. Final numbers awaited

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources