Ranbir Kapoor’s ‘Ramayana: Rise of a Legend’ just had its biggest overseas moment yet. The Hindi epic opened in North America on Thursday. By the end of the weekend, it had pulled in about $8.6 million in the US and Canada. Worldwide, the number crossed $55.6 million.
That is a big start for a mythological film from India. It is not a Hollywood-sized number. But it is a strong sign that Indian stories can travel.
This is the widest North American release ever for an Indian film. No Bollywood or South Indian movie has opened on this many screens in the region before.
The opening day numbers
Deadline reported that the film made around $3.5 million in North America on opening day. That figure includes the paid previews.
The film then settled at $8.6 million to $8.7 million for the full weekend. Reports differ by a hundred thousand dollars or so, which is normal when studios revise their estimates.
That put ‘Ramayana’ in the top five in North America. It finished fifth on the weekend chart, just behind A24’s ‘You Can See Everything’ and the film ‘Drummer Boy’. The race for fourth place was very tight.
India did the heavy lifting
Most of the money still came from home. Reports say the film collected around $32 million in India over the opening stretch. That is more than half of its global total.
The rest came from North America and other overseas markets. The simultaneous worldwide release helped here. Fans did not have to wait weeks or deal with leaks and spoilers.
A giant of a production
The film is being called the most expensive Indian movie ever made. The cast is huge. Ranbir Kapoor plays Ram. Yash, the ‘KGF’ star, is in the film as Ravana. Sai Pallavi plays Sita. Nitesh Tiwari directs.
It is the first part of a two-film retelling of the Ramayana. The second part is planned for Diwali next year. Reports suggest the budget is enormous, and the team has openly said it wants a global audience.
Sony announced the full title, ‘Ramayana: Rise of a Legend’, back in September. The film also leaned on IMAX for its overseas rollout.
The Diwali clash everyone talked about
Trade watchers had been talking about this face-off for months. Both films were locked for early November. Both wanted the same IMAX screens. The clash was first pitched as a Diwali showdown between India and Japan.
In the end, there was room for both. The two films played to very different crowds. Still, the comparison was impossible to avoid, because ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ landed the same week.
Godzilla Minus Zero breaks a record
Now to the monster. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ opened to $31.6 million in North America. That is a record for a non-English film in the region.
It topped the weekend chart easily. The family film ‘The Cat in the Hat’ came second with about $20.5 million. That gap is big, and it shows how strong the Japanese film’s pull was.
Worldwide, the film earned roughly $63 million. Deadline had predicted about $60 million before the weekend started. So it beat the forecast.
A win for GKids
The film is distributed in the US by GKids, a subsidiary of Toho. Toho is the Japanese studio behind Godzilla.
This is a record for GKids as well. No film from the company has ever opened this big. The movie played in 3,254 locations across North America.
GKids is better known for animated and arthouse titles. A monster film breaking its record says a lot about how the film landed.
The previews told the story
Early signs were good. The film earned $6.7 million from Thursday night previews. It then made $14.7 million on its first day, previews included.
That put it on track for the $31 million range. The final number matched that early pace.
The film is rated R. That did not slow it down. Horror and monster fans clearly came out in numbers.
Big screens mattered a lot. IMAX alone gave the film $21.3 million worldwide. That is about 34 percent of its total.
‘Ramayana’ also leaned on large formats. Both films are built for spectacle. Fans wanted the loudest and biggest version, and they paid extra for it.
This also explains why the screen fight was so heated. IMAX seats are limited. Each film needed them.
The full weekend chart
For the record, here is how North America ranked this weekend:
1. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’: $31.6 million
2. ‘The Cat in the Hat’: $20.5 million
3. ‘Drummer Boy’: $9.3 million
4. ‘You Can See Everything’: $8.9 million
5. ‘Ramayana: Rise of a Legend’: $8.7 million
Two foreign language films now sit in the top five. That is rare. A few years ago, this would have sounded unlikely.
- godzilla minus zero
- Ramayana
- Ranbir Kapoor
