Avengers: Endgame creates new box office record for a Hollywood film with Rs 187 cr opening weekend in India

The Indian film industry is taken by surprise with the historic opening of  Avengers: Endgame . The Marvel juggernaut registered a humongous gross collection of rupees Rs 187.14 crores in its opening weekend in India while its net box office collection (NBOC) for the first three days stood at 157.20 crore. The gross opening weekend of Avengers: Endgame is just below that of Baahubali 2 (Rs 384 crore) and 2.0 (Rs 190 crore) in India.

Dhananjayan, a popular producer from the South-Indian film industry, weighed in on the box office numbers of the MCU film: “Avengers: Endgame changed the perspective of the distribution business in India. The film proved that if you create the right buzz and meet the audience’s expectations, there is no need to bombard your film in 4000 screens. Despite being released in around 2900 screens, Avengers: Endgame broke the existing opening weekend record of all Hindi films. The distributors focused more on 3D theaters and played their game well.” Nearly 30 percent of the revenue of Avengers: Endgame in the country has come from South India. The NBOC from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra, and Telangana is around Rs 47 crore. Reliable sources in the trade say that the film’s Tamil Nadu NBOC is around Rs 15.2 crore (approximate), the highest contributor among all the four South Indian film industries. The opening net collections of the film in Kerala, Karnataka, and Nizam (Andhra and Telangana) are Rs 3.1 crore, Rs 14.5 crore, and Rs 14.2 crore respectively. Producer Gnanavel Raja, who bankrolled several big-budget films in Tamil and Telugu, said “Avengers: Endgame’s opening weekend collections exceeded our expectations. What surprised us is that the film’s opening weekend gross in Chennai is the highest among all the films released so far in 2019.” In Tamil Nadu, theatre owners screened the first show of the film on 4am. Ram Cinemas, a theatre located in Tirunelveli, usually screens the Tamil dubbed version of Hollywood films, but for the first time, they scheduled the English version of Avengers: Endgame at 4am which opened to a packed house. “The craze for the English version is huge. Our theatre owner and his family members thought they would get seats without a reservation, but to their surprise, it was a packed show, so they had to leave,” a spokesperson added. Ruban, Managing Director of GK Cinemas added, “What surprised the trade is the unparalleled craze for the English version. Generally, distributors believe that the dubbed version of Hollywood films will attract more footfall, but in the case of Avengers: Endgame, the original English version has pulled a huge crowd.” Rakesh Gowthaman, Managing Director of Vettri Theatres said that the film has surpassed the opening weekend collection of all the Hollywood films released so far in his two-screen complex. The Jungle Book is currently the highest grossing film of all time in Vettri. Whether that record will be broken by the final Avengers film, remains to be seen. Vettri, GK Cinemas, and Ram Cinemas installed an RGB laser, a high-end projection which provides crystal clear visuals for 3D films. So, the turnout in these theatres is only next to the two IMAX screens in Tamil Nadu. Another interesting fact observed by the trade is that general audiences in B and C centres don’t opt for online reservation and only prefer getting tickets at the counter. However, for Avengers: Endgame, online bookings have flourished, setting a new trend for Hollywood films in India. Tamil Nadu is the highest contributor in South India for Avengers: Endgame despite nominal ticket rates [varying from Rs 200 (normal 3D theaters) to Rs 330 (IMAX)] whereas major multiplexes in other parts of the country charge anything from Rs 800 to Rs 1500 on weekends. Sources say that in the long run, Avengers: Endgame is likely to gross more than Rs 40 crore in the state, which is actually higher than many blockbuster films led by Vijay Sethupathi, who has also dubbed for Robert Downey Jr in the Tamil version of Avengers: Endgame. As the number of big 3D screens in two-tier towns and cities in South India is quite less, the impact of Avengers: Endgame is comparatively lesser there as compared to North India. Another challenge for the Hollywood film in Tamil Nadu is that leading production house, Sun Pictures, signed a two-week agreement with many single screens for their recent blockbuster Kanchana 3. So, trade predicts a 40 crore GBOC keeping in mind all the shortcomings. In the long run, the overall gross of Avengers: Endgame in India is likely to be more than Rs 400 crore and theatres from the South are expected to contribute more than Rs 100 crore.