On Friday, Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had a blockbuster opening day in India, earning Rs. 33.50 crores ($4.40 million). After three other Marvel films, Endgame, Infinity War, and No Way Home, this is Hollywood’s fourth-highest opening in India. A multiverse of Madness came close to breaking the lifetime box office record set by Doctor Strange, which opened at Rs. 3.51 crores and made Rs. 35 crores in November 2016. Doctor Strange isn’t as well-known as Spider-Man or other traditional superheroes, but his popularity skyrocketed after his presence in the Avengers films.
The film’s box office will take a slight dip today after a strong start, but it should recover on Sunday, similar to the past three Marvel mega-openers. The film is expected to earn Rs. 95 crores in its first weekend, with a potential of reaching Rs. 100 crores. With their massive pre-sales, these films’ weekend revenue is already guaranteed, and it will be Monday that determines where the complete run will go.
The following are the top ten opening days for Hollywood in India:
- Avengers: Endgame – Rs. 64.50 crores
- Avengers: Infinity War – Rs. 40.50 crores
- Spider-man: No Way Home – Rs. 39.40 crores
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – Rs. 33.50 crores Approx
- Furious 7 – Rs. 16.75 crores
- Captain Marvel – Rs. 15.60 crores
- Avengers: Age of Ultron – Rs. 14.75 cores
- The Jungle Book – Rs. 14 crores
- Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw – Rs. 13.40 crores
- The Lion King – Rs. 13.25 crores
Marvel dominates the top openers list. In recent outings, Marvel movie openings in India have nearly doubled from what they were doing before Endgame. Before Endgame, Marvel standalone films with high anticipation like Civil War, Captain Marvel, and others were earning between Rs. 10-15 crores and are currently earning above Rs. 30 crores. The top of the list is fairly unbalanced, with four large openers, but the fifth is only half of the fourth. By the end of the year, at least two films (Avatar 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder) will have reached the Rs. 30 crore mark, while one or two more films (Jurassic World: Dominion and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) will have exceeded the Rs. 20 crore.
