It was a post-festive break that allowed Ramayana to regain momentum at the box office on Monday and Tuesday. But on Wednesday, the film showed that the surge was no fluke. On its seventh day in theatres, the Nitesh Tiwari film registered the best Wednesday in Indian cinema history, soaring past ₹ 900 crore worldwide. It has now surpassed several all-time blockbusters and is aiming to touch ₹ 1000 crore sometime today (November 12).
Ramayana becomes Ranbir Kapoor’s highest-grossing film
An opening weekend of ₹ 507 crore worldwide would be admirable for most Indian films, but Ramayana has a reported budget of over ₹ 1600 crore and hence, a much higher break-even point than even the biggest Indian films. Monday and Tuesday helped the film accelerate, with over ₹ 150 crore earned on both days. But even on a weekday, Ramayana did exceptional business, earning ₹ 70 crore net in India on the day, the highest ever by an Indian film on a non-holiday weekday and also the highest on a Wednesday. It beat Baahubali 2’s ₹ 52 crore record by quite a margin. This takes Ramayana’s domestic haul to ₹ 511 crore net ( ₹ 611 crore gross) after seven days. Sony Pictures distributed the film internationally, giving it a release in 59,000 screens worldwide, almost six times the size of any big Indian release. But the opening weekend saw returns of less than $25 million. As of now, Ramayana has earned $34.5 million in the overseas markets. This takes the film’s worldwide gross to ₹ 935 crore after seven days. The film has now earned over ₹ 100 crore worldwide on each of its seven days in the theatres, a new record for an Indian film. On its seventh day, Ramayana crossed the ₹ 900-crore mark, reaching ₹ 935 crore in worldwide gross. In the process, it became the highest-grossing film of Ranbir Kapoor’s career, beating the lifetime haul of Animal ( ₹ 915 crore). On Wednesday, the film also surpassed some other Indian blockbusters, including Aamir Khan’s Secret Superstar ( ₹ 916 crore) and Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan ( ₹ 921 crore). The first part is running in theatres, while the second part is set for a Diwali 2028 release.
Both films were propped up by significant earnings from China, where Ramayana has not yet been released. But the box-office opening remained below par. Wednesday was its first major test as the post-Diwali holidays ended. The issue with Ramayana was its overseas earnings. Produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios in collaboration with DNEG and Yash’s Monster Mind Creations, Ramayana is the first of a two-part film. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, and Ravie Dubey as Lakshman.
The Ranbir Kapoor and Yash -starrer opened to great reviews on Thursday, with initial audience reactions largely positive. Ramayana finishes its extended opening week today (Thursday). However, here, too, the tide turned on Monday. On Wednesday, despite there being no holiday, Ramayana continued to mint money overseas.
