The blockbuster film Kalki 2898 AD lived up to high expectations in its global box office debut, delivering the best opening weekend haul in the history of Indian cinema. The science-fiction epic, which has been sprinkled with a liberal dose of Indian “masala” by director Nag Ashwin, out-performed last year’s Jawan and the crossover hit RRR, although it had the benefit of an extra day since it was released on Thursday. Billed as the most expensive Indian film of all time with a budget of around $75 million, the film still has a long way to go before it can be counted as a success.
According to numbers shared by the production house Vyjayanthi Movies, Kalki 2898 AD grossed ₹555 crore in its first four days of release; this converts to around $66 million. Box office tracking for Indian films can be a little difficult, with only a few third-party firms currently in operation. Studio figures, therefore, must always be taken with a pinch of salt. But Kalki’s $66 million debut puts it ahead of RRR, which made around $60 million in its opening weekend, and Jawan, which grossed $62 million in its extended four-day debut. According to the Indian Express Kalki’s $66 million opening weekend haul is the biggest in the history of Indian films. RRR ultimately grossed over $160 million worldwide, while Jawan tapped out with over $130 million globally.
Starring the wildly popular Prabhas, Kalki also broke RRR’s domestic opening record, in addition to out-performing Prabhas‘ own Salaar: Part 1 — Ceasefire. Kalki made around $6 million in its traditional three-day domestic debut, and over $11 million in the extended five-day opening — it was released on Wednesday in North America. In its opening weekend, the movie finished inside the top five, behind the holdover hits Inside Out 2 and Bad Boys: Ride or Die, and fellow newcomers A Quiet Place: Day One and Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1.
‘Kalki’s Success Re-Establishes Prabhas’ Dented Stardom
Kalki’s resounding opening cements Prabhas as one of the biggest Indian movie stars of his generation, and arguably the biggest of them all. His movies are now responsible for three of the five biggest opening weekend hauls in Indian cinema history. He has two more films in the top 10. Nobody can discount the fact that Prabhas can draw crowds, but his career took a major hit immediately after he entered the A-list. Before Kalki and Salaar, he starred in a string of high-profile flops that raised questions about box office pull. Prabhas rose to superstardom following the global success of RRR director S.S. Rajamouli’s two Baahubali films, which were released between 2015 and 2017, and grossed a combined total of almost $300 million worldwide. Incidentally, Rajamouli makes a cameo appearance in Kalki, alongside a host of other famous people.
Kalki was released in several Indian languages, including English. It isn’t what audiences would commonly call a “Bollywood” movie. That term usually applies only to movies in the Hindi language. Kalki, on the other hand, is a Telugu film that has been dubbed for the convenience of crowds across India and the world. The film is designed to start a franchise, and combines elements of Hindu mythology with dystopian sci-fi tropes. Prabhas plays a bounty hunter who is tasked with apprehending a woman who is said to be pregnant with a messiah figure; he protects her from the forces of evil that want her unborn son dead. Also starring Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Kamal Haasan and others, Kalki is playing in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
via Collider