A global blockbuster already, Spider-Man: No Way Home has emerged as a major box-office success in India too. This, despite releasing at a time when the pandemic scare is back again.
The film benefitted from opening on a long weekend (it released on December 16, 2021; a Thursday), and has stayed stable ever since. On Friday (December 31, 2021), Indian box-office collections from the movie were around Rs189 crore, making it the third-highest Hollywood grosser in India - ever. It went past the next best in line, The Jungle Book, in a mere 15 days.
These are the top Hollywood century-makers in India so far:
Avengers: End Game - Rs364 crore
Avengers: Infinity War - Rs226 crore
Spider-Man: No Way Home - (approx) Rs189 crore (15-day collections)
The Jungle Book - Rs187.4 crore
The Lion King - Rs158 crore
Fast and the Furious 7 - Rs108 crore
Jurassic World - Rs101 crore
The latest Spiderman film is now next only to Avengers films - all film in the top-3 here are Marvel offerings.
Could this film go on to topple Avengers: Infinity War and take the second spot?
As things stand now, this looks rather difficult - collections have dipped during the second week after a very good weekend and the most it would be able to collect now is over the current weekend. Once the holiday season ends, collections would come down to Rs1-2 crore a day. There is only so much distance a film can cover in such a scenario and while Rs215 -220 crore seems like a reasonable target for the film, anything more than that would be an added bonus.
All said and done, the film has exceeded expectations - it has easily done double the business Indian industry insiders had projected it would prior to its release in India.
The takeaway, perhaps is this: Audiences are starved of good entertainment on the big screen, and if it’s served to them well, then they will take it with both hands.
With cinemas shutting down in Delhi, there is a spanner in the plans for film releases across the country - the National Capital Region plays a major role in overall box office revenues. While films like Sooryavanshi, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Pushpa: The Rise have shown the way, one just hopes that the situation improves and theatres can operate again and audiences continue to take precautions while also enjoying movies on the big screen.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
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