Bajrangi Bhaijaan: Salman Khan starrer becomes fourth Indian film to cross Rs 100 cr in China box office

Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which hit Chinese theaters on 2 March for the Lantern festival weekend, has become the fourth Indian film to breach the Rs 100 crore mark in the PRC after Aamir Khan’s PK, Dangal and recently, Secret Superstar. [caption id=“attachment_3734551” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Harshali Malhotra and Salman Khan in a still from Bajrangi Bhaijaan. YouTube[/caption] The movie completed its first week run on Thursday with a modest gross of $18.04 million (Rs 117.5 crore), fueled by a striking upsurge of 110 per cent Wednesday-to-Thursday growth. The Kabir Khan-directed film, which scored a $1.92 million (Rs 12.5 crore) gross on day six, amassed a nifty day-seven cumulative of $4.02 million (Rs 26.2 crore), which is its best single day gross in the mainland. Bajrangi Bhaijaan has also become the fifth Indian film – after PK, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, Dangal, Secret Superstar – to gross more than Rs 100 Cr in a single overseas market. While Baahubali 2: The C0nclusion accomplished the feat in the USA, the other four films won over the Chinese moviegoers to pull off the milestone. Now, Bajrangi Bhaijaan has set its eyes on the lifetime China revenue of PK ($19 million), which was the first Indian film to transcend the Rs 100 crore mark in the PRC successfully in 2015. The hefty 7-day China gross of $18.04 million (Rs 117.5 crore) has powered the film’s cumulative overseas takings to $47.04 million (Rs 306.2 crore) and the worldwide earnings to $111.8 million (Rs 728.3 crore). The Harshaali Malhotra-starrer has now become the fifth Indian film to cut across the $40 million overseas gross, only next to PK, Dangal, Baahubali: The Conclusion and Secret Superstar. After the completion of the first weekend, Bajrangi Bhaijaan is expected to comfortably vault over the $50 million mark in cumulative overseas box-office receipts and surpass the lifetime overseas revenue of PK and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion respectively_._ Although Baahubali 2: The Conclusion has scored a $1 million gross in Japan where it has been running in cinemas for over two months, it is highly unlikely that it will catch up with Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Although the ticket sales of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are moderate and pale in comparison to Aamir’s money-spinning blockbusters such as Dangal and Secret Superstar, the box office performance of this cross-border drama is significant since it marks the foray of Salman Khan in China. And not to forget that the movie has seen the light of day in the PRC almost three years after its India release in July 2015. Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which debuted at no 7 at the box office, has also been consistently advancing its position in the chart. At the end of the first week, it has moved to an attractive third rank in the top ten daily box office chart, only behind China’s Spring festival blockbusters, Operation Red Sea and Detective Chinatown Vol 2. The success of Bajrangi Bhaijaan also proves content-oriented films would fetch good reception in the world’s second largest movie market where Indian movies are synonymous with Uncle Mi, as the mainland moviegoers fondly call Aamir Khan. Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which had a winning score of 9.7 on China’s popular ticket selling and movie rating platform Maoyan on opening day, has a rating of 9.6 from 90,000 people. Maoyan’s forecast of the film’s lifetime revenue stands at 300 million yuan ($47.3 million) and we have to carefully observe how the Chinese audiences welcome the boundary-busting Disney/Marvel’s box-office phenomenon Black Panther which opens today in the country. Now, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, with its worldwide box office earnings at $111.8 million (Rs 728.3 crore), stands at the fifth position in the top ten highest grossing films of all time. While it is likely to outshine the worldwide gross of PK soon as it is performing steadily in the PRC, it will be a challenging task to eclipse the worldwide revenue of Secret Superstar (Rs 894 cr), which is currently waiting for a release in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. However, if Bajrangi Bhaijaan achieves the 300 million yuan estimated by Maoyan, it would dethrone Secret Superstar to emerge as the all time third highest grossing Indian film, only behind Dangal and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.