Making waves. Avatar: The Way of Water emerges as second biggest Hollywood opener at Indian box office

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has raked in the second highest opening day collections for a Hollywood film at the Indian box office. Trade analysts estimated that the sci-fi flick garnered over ₹41 crore in net box office collections in India on Friday.

Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh said the movie saw historic numbers in the Southern market. He said the movie was “fantabulous” on Day 1. “South markets go on an overdrive, historic numbers...North ranges from very good to excellent. Has scope to grow in mass pockets,” he tweeted on Saturday. He pointed out that the sequel to the 2009 flick Avatar emerged as the second biggest Hollywood opener in India in terms of the day one collections.

While Avengers: End Game released in 2019 had garnered collections of about ₹53.10 crore on the first day of its release, Spider-Man: No Way Home collected ₹32.67 crore at the box office on its first day of release in 2021. Meanwhile, Avengers: Infinity War, released in 2018, earned ₹31.30 crore on the first day of its release, and this year’s release Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had earned ₹27.50 crore in opening day collections.

The Hollywood flick, touted to be one of the most expensive films, has been widely released on about 3,500 screens in six languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada in India. The film has seen strong advance booking trends for the weekend. It sold over one million tickets at BookMyShow by Wednesday in advance bookings.

Karan Taurani, Senior Vice-President, Elara Capital in a report stated that the movie is estimated to have a lifetime box office collection of about ₹500-600 crore as it is expected to draw a family audience. The film is also expected to prop cinemas recovery to 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, he added.

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