‘Men in Black: International’ ahead of new Hindi releases as ‘Bharat’ sustains
Despite cricket World Cup and a bevy of new releases the movie about war on alien insurgents firmly stood its groundMeanwhile, 'Bharat' crossed ₹184-crore mark by the end of its second weekend at box office
Hollywood science fiction action comedy Men in Black: International has stolen a march over local Hindi releases of the week. The F.Gary Gray directed film has made ₹9.25 crore in India over its opening weekend, in contrast to the two new Hindi offerings—horror flicks Game Over and Khamoshi that have earned ₹4.5 crore and ₹28 lakh respectively. The former is front-led by Taapsee Pannu while the latter features Prabhu Deva and Tamannaah Bhatia in lead roles.
“Men in Black: International has trumped the World Cup, all new Hindi and Hollywood releases (of the week) easily. The Hindi version has contributed 40% of the overall collection," trade analyst and editor of trade magazine Complete Cinema, Atul Mohan, tweeted.
Trade website Box Office India said at net collections of ₹2.75 crore, Men in Black earned nearly four times more than all the new Hindi releases put together on its first day. The film may not have set any records but the collections were better than last week’s Hollywood release X Men: Dark Phoenix, which had a box-office clash with Salman Khan-starrer Bharat.
The other Hollywood release of the week, animation comedy The Secret Life of Pets 2, made ₹45 lakh on its first day, almost in the same range as the new Hindi releases.
Meanwhile, Eid release Bharat has wrapped up its second weekend at only ₹16 crore due to mixed reviews and impact of the cricket World Cup matches. The film has crossed the ₹184-crore mark in total business as of now with best numbers coming in from the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh region, including Noida and Ghaziabad, which stood at ₹40 crore net in 11 days of its release. Mumbai, which has hit the ₹50-crore mark, could be doing better for the coming-of-age movie, analysts say.
“Bharat dips, after a long, rich weekend. Will have to speed up on remaining weekdays and also in the second weekend. Now second highest grosser of 2019, after crossing lifetime business of Kesari and Total Dhamaal in six days," trade analyst Taran Adarsh had tweeted after the film’s ₹144 crore opening weekend.
Bharat currently lags behind the Uri: The Surgical Strike, which is the highest grossing film of the year so far at ₹244 crore.
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