'Ramayana' scores Rs 64.85 net opening in India

Nitesh Tiwari’s ambitious epic ‘Ramayana: Rise of a Legend’, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash in lead roles, was off to an impressive start at the theatres. The film, which enjoyed a wide release in India, began its theatrical run with a Rs 64.85 crore net collection at the end of Day 1, states a report on Sacnilk. Ramayana Movie ReviewMeanwhile, the film recorded an India gross total of Rs 77.50 crore across five languages, with collections coming from approximately 25,200 shows. Despite strong pre-release expectations and advance bookings, the film's opening-day numbers have fallen short of the Rs 100 crore-plus debut that trade observers had originally anticipated, following its Rs 50 crore advance bookings. According to the latest box-office figures, the Hindi version led the collections with Rs 47.50 crore, followed by the Kannada version which contributed Rs 7.25 crore and the Telugu version with Rs 6 crore. The Tamil version collected Rs 2.60 crore, while Malayalam added Rs 1.50 crore to take the film's total India net collections. Despite its strong pre-sales, the film's opening-day performance has been relatively measured against initial expectations. With its reported production budget of Rs 4,000 crore for the two-part saga, trade observers had anticipated a Rs 100 crore-plus opening if strong walk-in collections matched the Rs 50.5 crore in advance bookings. However, the film will now look to picking up the pace over the extended Diwali weekend which will also be crucial in determining its box-office trajectory. At the international box office, the film's North American opening has been more modest than initially projected. According to the latest update, ‘ Ramayana’ had collected USD 940,000 from 1,009 locations by noon Pacific Standard Time. The film was trending towards a USD 1.5 million day, below initial opening-day expectations of USD 4 million, including premieres. However, trade projections subsequently indicated that the total could reach approximately USD 3.5 million. Its North American premiere advance bookings stood at USD 1.65 million, with projections suggesting a USD 2 million-plus premiere total. Meanwhile, the film has begun its second day of advance sales on a promising note. ‘Ramayana: Rise of a Legend’ has registered Rs 29.46 crore gross in advance bookings for Friday, November 6. Trade estimates had projected that the film could cross the Rs 375 crore net mark in its first weekend and eventually reach approximately Rs 900 crore in India gross collections. Worldwide lifetime projections have ranged between Rs 1,600 crore and Rs 1,800 crore, although these remain early estimates and will depend on audience word of mouth, weekend growth and its performance in overseas markets.