'Thor: Ragnarok' Wows India With 32 Cr./$4.9M Weekend, Hollywood's 2nd Best Debut There This Year
In the first two days of its opening weekend in India, Thor: Ragnarok has left Transformers: The Last Knight in its dust, grossing 21.9 crore rupees on Friday and Saturday to trounce the Transformers sequels 18 crore 3-day opening, thus claiming the honor of second-best Hollywood movie debut in India this year.
Adding a projected 10 crore/$1.5 million Sunday gross for the Chris Hemsworth-starring Marvel picture takes it to 32 crore/$4.9 million for the weekend. Thats the best start yet by any of the MCUs Thor movies in India. In fact, its more than both of the previous Thor films earned combined in their entire India theatrical runs.
In addition to toppling Transformers 5, Thor: Ragnarok also out-earned the 2017 debuts of such other Hollywood tent-poles as The Mummy, Dunkirk, Wonder Woman, War for the Planet of the Apes, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Only Spider-Man: Homecoming had a better opening weekend, with 41.7 crore
Ragnaroks debut tally has tripled the $1.6 million earned by Thor: The Dark World in the opening frame of its November, 2013 release. The latter film went on to earn a lifetime total of $3.6 million in India, a 2.25 multiple.
If the new film can also generate at least the same 2.25 opening weekend multiple it could actually finish with a bigger box office total than Spider-Man: Homecomings 72.25 crore/$11.1 million final India result, which would make it the year's biggest Hollywood release. That would be a stunning accomplishment, since Spider-Man has consistently proven to be Indias favorite movie superhero across the franchises six releases.
As in most of the rest of the world, Thor: Ragnarok has been earning high praise from India's critics and strong word of mouth among filmgoers for the decidedly more humorous tone than was present in the franchise's first two films.
It has been comedies that have revived what was up until recently a moribund box office season in India. While dramas and action films have faltered, the Rohit Shetty-directed comedy Golmaal Again and David Dhawan's romp Judwaa 2 have been two of the market's highest-grossing movies this year.