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Avengers Endgame India box office occupancy higher than Baahubali 2, Thugs of Hindostan, breaks records worldwide
Avengers: Endgame has registered higher occupancy than two of the highest opening day grossers in Indian box office history - Baahubali: The Conclusion and Thugs of Hindostan.
Avengers: Endgame is on track to register one of the biggest openings in Indian box office history. With opening day occupancy in the 80-85% range, the highly anticipated Marvel film is pacing ahead of Indian box office behemoths Baahubali: The Conclusion and Thugs of Hindostan, which made ₹122 crore and ₹52 crore on their opening days.
According to Box Office India, Endgame’s occupancy is higher than both Baahubali 2 and Thugs of Hindostan’s, which stood in the 70-75% range. The only catch is that Endgame has opened on significantly fewer screens. While Baahubali 2 opened in 6500 screens in India, and Thugs debuted in over 5000 screens, Endgame is bowing in on approximately 2845 screens.
“In all probability,” trade analyst Girish Johar told Hindustan Times, “the film will be in top three grossers in India,” and predicted an opening day total of around ₹50 crore. This is more than double of the opening day collection of Karan Johar's ambitious Bollywood ensemble cast production Kalank, which has registered 2019's highest opening for Bollywood at ₹21.60 crore.
Avengers Endgame to clock ₹190-200 cr first weekend
Trade analysts believe that Avengers: Endgame can clock anything between ₹190-200 crore in the opening weekend. "A lot of Bollywood makers may be shivering looking at the euphoria and opening of 'Avengers: Endgame'. The film starts a new game for Hollywood in India, that's for sure," Komal Nahta told IANS.
"The film opened as early as 6 a.m. in theatres, bringing excited fans to the theatres. Some places are even showing the film overnight, so all these factors combined will give the movie a huge advantage," analyst Rajesh Thadani added.
Meanwhile, the film has already grossed $169 million on Wednesday, its first day of release in 25 markets including China, Australia and several countries in Europe. The film was released in India and the US on Friday, April 26.
Avengers Endgame: Opening day records
It set single-day box office records in China, Australia, New Zealand and other countries, said Disney, which bought Marvel Studios in 2009. The film's performance in China was impressive -- $107.5 million.
In France, Endgame scored the biggest opening day for a Marvel film. It set an overall opening day record in the Netherlands, Greece and Egypt.
The figures indicate that Endgame will surpass the receipts generated by the previous episode in the Avengers saga -- Infinity War -- which came out last year, it added.
In the US, online ticketing platform Fandango is reporting that 8000 screenings have been sold out.
Avengers Endgame: India records
In India, Book My Show said advance sales had exceeded 2.5 million, and some cinemas showed around-the-clock screenings. At its peak, approximately 18 tickets were sold every second.
To capitalise on the hype, cinema chains have increased ticket prices. Mint quoted trade analyst Girish Johar as saying, “Disney has played smart in distributing the film and ticket prices, though higher, are unlikely to pinch.” An average multiplex ticket has risen to ₹275 from ₹175, while premium seats cost ₹1,500-1,700.”
Meanwhile, Alok Tandon, chief executive of theatre chain INOX Leisure Ltd, said that the theatre chain would be utilising 90% of its screens for the film. PVR has allocated 70% of its over 750 screens in India to Endgame - the highest for a Hollywood film.
Experts predict the well-reviewed Avengers finale -- featuring Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson and a raft of other stars -- could make $200-260 million in its opening weekend in North America, and close to $1 billion worldwide.
Some multiplexes have shows at 1am, 2am, 5.30 am and 6.30 am , with tickets for early morning shows reportedly going up to ₹2400, according to reports.
Here is how the last five Marvel Cinematic Universe films did in India on the opening day...
Captain Marvel: ₹12. 75 crore
Ant-Man and The Wasp: ₹5.50 crore
Avengers Infinity War: ₹31.3 crore
Black Panther: ₹5.60 crore
Thor Ragnarok: ₹7.73 crore
(With inputs from AFP)
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