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BO: Spider-Man: No Way Home & Pushpa collect 250 crores over the weekend in India- BIGGEST in last 2 years
India recorded its biggest ticketing weekend in over two years as it managed to breach a cumulative gross of Rs. 260 crore.
It was a busy weekend at the Indian Box Office with two tent-pole releases, one from Hollywood and one from Tollywood, setting the box office ablaze with an extraordinary reception at the tickets window. This weekend proved to be the most lucrative weekend for the Indian exhibition sector in over two years, with cumulative gross figures of holdover releases as well as new releases, summing up to an estimated Rs. 260 crore. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Pushpa reigned supreme at the Indian Box Office and gave a clear indication to one and all that theatres could brave any kind of setback, the most recent being the Covid-19 pandemic and the Over-The-Top medium boom in India.
The Hollywood juggernaut Spider-Man: No Way Home packed a solid punch this weekend with a 4-day gross total of over Rs. 130 crore, which amounts to a nett figure of around Rs. 110 crore. On the other hand, the Tollywood giant Pushpa performed brilliantly and managed to gross around Rs. 120 crore in its first 3 days, which amounts to an all India nett figure of Rs. 103 crore. Apart from these two releases, the holdover releases like Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui and Akhanda among others contributed roughly Rs. 10 crores gross to the weekend tally to cumulatively manage Rs. 260 crore in gross.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was impacted by the occupancy cap imposed in Maharashtra and the fear of the newest variant of Covid-19, Omicron. The trade estimates the weekend numbers to be hit by roughly 20% which is a significant number.
Pushpa on the other hand was hit severely by ticketing regulations in Andhra Pradesh which resulted in underwhelming figures from the coastal region. The reforms in Andhra Pradesh include a cap on ticket prices, limited show allocation with only four shows per screen per day as supposed to five, and the last being- no benefit shows which contribute significantly to the Day 1 total of the film. Apart from that, the film was not distributed well in the North, considering that it was touted as a Pan-India film.
Due to goof-ups by the makers, the Malayalam version of the film didn’t make it in time in Kerala which led to show cancellations early on. We can say that Pushpa lost a potential business of Rs. 25 crore from the coastal region due to ticketing regulations and around Rs. 10 crore from the North and miscellaneous states which faced show cancellations due to delays in print.
Although the numbers are nothing short of extraordinary, there was a scope of a 20-25% higher business for both films. If the conditions were similar to Pre-Covid times, we would have the extended weekend figures breaching Rs. 325 crore gross.
Regardless, it was a great ticketing weekend at the Indian Box Office and it will only get better with films like The Matrix: Resurrection, 83, Jersey, RRR, Bheemla Nayak, and Radhe Shyam, all releasing within a month.
Written by Rishil Jogani
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