How Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar beat James Cameron's Avatar Fire and Ash at Indian box office despite few shows, no IMAX

Dhurandhar vs Avatar Fire and Ash: How Ranveer Singh's David beat the Hollywood Goliath on its home turf.

Dhurandhar’s success at the box office is a testament to the power of word-of-mouth. The film took a below-expectation opening but bounced back after its first weekend, earning more in its second week than in its first. The Aditya Dhar film was expected to lose some steam in week 3, given it would be competing for screen space and audience attention with James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash. But when push came to shove, the Ranveer Singh-starrer came out on top, beating the Hollywood behemoth despite fewer screens and no IMAX cherry on top.

Dhurandhar took on and defeated the might of James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash.

How Dhurandhar vs Avatar Fire and Ash played out

Dhurandhar released in India across 5500 screens on 5 December, raking in ₹200 crore net in India in its first week and adding over ₹250 crore in week 2. As of 19 December, its India haul stood at ₹460 crore. Of this, ₹14 crore came from IMAX, where it enjoyed a two-week run. However, on December 19, the beginning of its third week at the ticket window, Dhurandhar saw a reduction in its screen count, as Avatar: Fire and Ash released on 3800 screens across India. This included all the IMAX screens where Dhurandhar was previously playing and several other premium screens across metros and other tier-1 cities. Dhurandhar’s screen count was reduced by an estimated 40% due to the big Hollywood release.

How Dhurandhar won the box office battle

Avatar: Fire and Ash had a slow start at the Indian box office, a place where Avatar films have done well traditionally, often even beating Bollywood biggies in collection. On its first day, the film netted ₹19 crore in India. On the same day, Dhurandhar had a much better time at the ticket window, minting ₹22.50 crore. The battle was close, but only on that day. By Saturday, Dhurandhar began pulling away. On Saturday and Sunday, the film jumped by big margins to add almost ₹73 crore net to its total. Avatar: Fire and Ash managed just ₹48 crore in the same time period with almost negligible increases on Saturday and Sunday.

By Monday, many smaller centres began giving more shows back to Dhurandhar, showing their faith in a three-week-old film over a new release. Avatar: Fire and Ash has earned just ₹70 crore net in India since its release. In the same time period, Dhurandhar has crossed ₹100 crore, widening the gap with each passing day. And it has done so without any boost from IMAX and dubbed versions.

Dhurandhar is now on course to cross the ₹600 crore barrier at the Indian box office. It will become only the third Hindi film to do so later this month.