New Delhi, July 20 (PTI): “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” will continue the momentum built by “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” at the Indian box office, say trade experts, predicting that the two Hollywood movies releasing Friday will collectively amass around Rs 45 crore in the opening weekend.
In the duel between two major Hollywood titles, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”, a sprawling biographical drama on the titular American theoretical physicist played by Cillian Murphy, is expected to do better numbers than “Barbie”, a live-action film on the world-famous Mattel doll from actor-director Greta Gerwig, they said.
Gautam Dutta, PVR INOX Ltd co-CEO, credited Tom Cruise’s “Dead Reckoning Part One” for giving a blockbuster start to the second half of 2023.
“The whole trend started with ‘Mission: Impossible’. It released on Wednesday and the weekend was colossal… The whole momentum got created with that. This month also sees a huge opening of ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Barbie’. This is by far the most positive news because people are flocking back to cinemas.
“We are expecting an industry wise opening day gross box office collection of Rs 7 crore for ‘Oppenheimer’ and Rs 4 crore for ‘Barbie’. The first weekend (Friday-Sunday) collection could be around Rs 30 crore for ‘Oppenheimer’ and Rs 15 crore for ‘Barbie’,” Dutta told PTI.
“Dead Reckoning Part One”, the seventh film in Cruise’s spy action franchise “Mission: Impossible” that hit Indian screens on July 12, reportedly raised Rs 50 crore in the first five days of its release. Its maker Paramount Pictures India claimed the movie has registered the “biggest opening day and opening weekend” for the franchise, Cruise and the studio in the country.
Dutta said over 8.5 lakh people and about 9 lakh saw “Dead Reckoning Part One” on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
For “Oppenheimer”, the PVR INOX executive said, the multiplex chain has sold “close to 1.5 lakh tickets already for a single day for Friday, and for the weekend, it’s clocking about 4 lakh”.
“‘Barbie’, as well, is trending a little below ‘Oppenheimer’ because it caters to a slightly different audience,” he added.
Ashish Saksena, COO – Cinemas, online ticketing platform BookMyShow, said July has been a “crackling month” at the cinemas with three back-to-back Hollywood titles releasing in little less than 10 days.
