It’s truly festival time for the film industry as both weekend releases — director Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan 1 (PS1) and Hrithik Roshan-Saif Ali Khan-starrer Vikram Vedha — not only lived up to their hype and expectations, but also recorded strong collections at the box office.
Ponniyin Selvan, the periodic drama based on author Kalki Krishnamurthy’s novel with the same name, grossed over ₹150 crore in worldwide box office collections.
“In 2 days, #PS1 has grossed more than ₹150 Crs at the WW Box office..” tweeted Ramesh Bala, an entertainment industry tracker and film trade analyst.
Made at a massive budget, the magnum opus released in theatres across the globe on Friday in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. The movie, which is based on Chola history, has an ensemble of characters, including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Karthi, Trisha and Jayam Ravi in lead roles.
On Saturday, the movie’s producer Lyca Production said Ponniyin Selvan 1 had the biggest-ever opening day for Tamil Cinema, with over ₹80 crore in worldwide gross box office collections.
Trade analyst Bala also said PS1 overtook actor Kamal Haasan’s Vikram in the US and Australian markets to become the highest grossing Tamil movie in 2022.
Similarly, Hrithik Roshan-Saif Ali Khan-starrer Vikram Vedha has also received good ratings and positive word of mouth. However, the movie, which is a remake of 2017 Tamil film of the same name, is yet to register a very strong box office collection.
According to film trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the Pushkar-Gayathri directed film had a net box office collection of ₹23.09 crore on the first two days. He, however, said the business slightly improved from ₹10.58 crore on Friday to ₹12.51 crore on Saturday. “All eyes on Day 3 (Gandhi Jayanti),” he tweeted.
Vikram Vedha released in a total of 5,640 screens worldwide, with 4,007 screens in India and 1,633 screens in 104 countries.
Rajendra Singh Jyala, Chief Programming Officer, Inox Leisure, said: “Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Brahmastra kicked off the box office recovery this year and both films PS-1 and Vikram Vedha are carrying the momentum forward.
“Besides regional languages, we have at least 2-3 Hindi film releases for Diwali, followed by Avatar 2 on December 16, which will be the biggest release of the year, and Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus on December 23. So, the line-up is very strong for this quarter,” Jyala added.