The Salgaonkars are back for the final chapter as Drishyam 3 collects Rs 16.6 crore in opening- day advance sales
Maryam Farooqui
October 01, 2026 / 11:51 IST
Drishyam 3 hits theaters on October 2.
- Drishyam 3 opens with strong advance bookings.
- Indian box office sees record-breaking August and September.
- Mirzapur: The Movie grosses 329.21 crore worldwide.
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The Indian box office is busy. After a record-breaking August and a September packed with strong performers, Drishyam 3 arrives in theatres on October 2 with some serious advance booking numbers and expectations of another major hit.
The Ajay Devgn-starrer has already collected around Rs 16.6 crore in opening-day advance bookings, selling 4.44 lakh tickets. Advance sales for the extended opening weekend stand at Rs 28.51 crore.
The film marks the conclusion of one of Hindi cinema’s most successful thriller franchises. The original Drishyam, released in 2015, collected Rs 76.16 crore net in India. Drishyam 2 was a blockbuster in 2022 with a Rs 250.59-crore net collection.
The third installment comes at a time when cinemas are enjoying one of their strongest runs in recent years.
September opened with an unexpected winner in Mirzapur: The Movie. The theatrical adaptation of Excel Entertainment‘s popular web franchise, starring Pankaj Tripathi and Ali Fazal, has grossed Rs 329.21 crore worldwide in 26 days against a budget of around Rs 90 crore, emerging as one of the month’s biggest successes.
The momentum is not limited to new releases. Older titles have also found an eager audience.
Marvel’s Avengers Endgame: Encore continues to draw crowds despite a softer-than-expected opening. The re-release has already overtaken Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar to become the highest-grossing Hollywood re-release in India.
After earning around Rs 27.3 crore net so far, the film is now chasing the benchmark set by Sanam Teri Kasam, which remains the highest-grossing Bollywood re-release with Rs 35.55 crore net.
The strong September showing follows an even bigger August.
Films released in August generated Rs 1,768 crore at the domestic box office, making it the best month of the year and the third-biggest in Indian box office history, behind only December 2024 and December 2023.
The month’s performance was powered by titles such as Hanuman Ansh, Toxic, Irumudi, Bethlehem Kudumba Unit and Awarapan 2.
Leading the pack was Hanuman Ansh, which is expected to finish with a lifetime domestic gross of around Rs 360 crore. Malayalam blockbuster Bethlehem Kudumba Unit has emerged as one of the year’s biggest regional successes and is on track to become the highest-grossing Malayalam film at the box office across language versions.
The August top-10 chart also reflected the increasingly pan-India nature of theatrical success, featuring films across Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada languages.
With the cumulative 2026 domestic box office standing at Rs 9,868 crore, up 18 percent from the previous year, the industry is heading into the festive quarter with momentum firmly intact.
Maryam Farooqui is Senior Correspondent at Moneycontrol covering media and entertainment, travel and hospitality. She has 11 years of experience in reporting.
first published: Oct 1, 2026 11:51 am
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