Despite massive hype, 'Ramayana' loses to 'Adipurush' at box office
What's the story
Despite being one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, Ramayana has failed to make a massive impact at the box office. The film, directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra, opened to positive reviews on Thursday, but its global earnings fell short of expectations. It raked in over ₹100 crore worldwide on its opening day but failed to break into the top 15 biggest openings for Indian films.
Box office breakdown
'Ramayana's Day 1 in numbers
The Ranbir Kapoor and Yash-starrer earned ₹64.85 crore net (₹77.5 crore gross) in India on its opening day. The Hindi version contributed the most to this figure, earning ₹47.5 crore from 20,678 shows.
However, the Kannada version only managed to rake in ₹7.25 crore from 1,197 shows, one-third of what Yash's previous films KGF Chapter 2 and Toxic made on their opening days.
Global earnings
Overseas earnings were also underwhelming
Sony Pictures, which distributed the film internationally, gave it a release on 70,000 screens worldwide, almost three times as many as any Indian release so far.
However, Ramayana's day-one overseas earnings were less than $5.5 million. This included $1.5 million from paid previews in North America.
Despite these numbers being impressive for other Indian films, they are disappointing given Ramayana's scale and ambition.
Record-breaking expectations
'Ramayana' misses mark for biggest opening by far
As the most expensive Indian film ever made, Ramayana was expected to aim for the biggest opening in Indian cinema history. However, it fell short of this goal.
The film's ₹127.5 crore worldwide gross on debut day is only the 16th best in Indian cinema history, trailing behind Jawan (₹129 crore) and even Adipurush (₹128 crore), per Hindustan Times.
Leaders of this board are Pushpa 2's ₹274 crore and Dhurandhar 2 at ₹202 crore.
Film overview
Everything to know about 'Ramayana'
Produced by Malhotra's Prime Focus Studios in association with DNEG and Yash's Monster Mind Creations, Ramayana is a two-part film.
The first part stars Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, and Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman.
The second part will be released on Diwali 2028.