Box office: Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani crosses Rs 11 crore on Day 1

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani has lavish film sets, costumes and a star-studded cast. (Screen grab)

For the better part of June, Hollywood films occupied most of the big-screen space in India. Big releases from Mission Impossible 7 to Oppenheimer have also garnered good numbers at the Indian box office. In fact the last Hindi film that opened well and then did good business was SatyaPrem Ki Katha (the film made over Rs 125 crore in ticket sales worldwide), which released four weeks back. Naturally, Hindi film fans and everyone in the Hindi film business was rooting for Bollywood to strike big again and bring some Hindi mega-entertainment for the audiences.

Directed and produced by Karan Johar, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani is one of the most lavish productions to come out of the Hindi film industry. The film made Rs 11.10 crore on Day 1, on Friday. Now, given that the cast includes Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi, and Aamir Bashir, among others, an even bigger start was expected from the film. Still, the numbers spark hope for growth in momentum over the weekend - something that all involved with the family drama would be rooting for.

Reviews and word of mouth have been largely positive, and Bollywood fans have especially liked the second half, something that works in favour of a narrative that lasts close to three hours. While the weekend numbers should turn out to be over the Rs 40 crore mark, anything in Rs 42-44 crore range will set the film up for even better first week.

Meanwhile, Hollywood movies are continuing to make a mark in India, with both Oppenheimer and Barbie turning out to be successful. While Oppenheimer is a clear hit, Barbie would be an above average affair as well, hence resulting in a good overall outcome especially in a clash.

Oppenheimer has now crossed the Rs 75 crore milestone, with collections standing at Rs 76 crore* after the second Friday. The drop isn’t much when compared to Thursday which further goes on to show that the film has been accepted quite well by the audiences. At the IMAX and other premium screens, shows are going houseful till date.

On the other hand, Barbie had crossed the Rs 25 crore milestone in the course of first week itself and with the second Friday holding reasonably well too, the collections now stand at Rs 27.50 crore*. While it will comfortably cross a Rs 30 crore total over the weekend, even a reasonable hold thereafter will set it up well for a lifetime of Rs 35-40 crore.

Another Hollywood film that has done good business is Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One which has now entered the 100 Crore Club. In two weeks, the film managed to cross the Rs 100 crore mark and while the overall numbers now stand at Rs 101 crore*, ultimately it would be aiming to cross the lifetime earnings of its Hollywood counterpart Fast X (Rs 108.83 crore*).

One just hopes that Rocky Aur Rani Kii Kahaani joins the list of century makers as well, and post that Gadar 2 and OMG 2 continue the good run.

*Estimates. Final numbers awaited

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources