New Delhi: In yet another unsurprising turn of events, Hollywood has beaten all local Hindi film releases of the week. At net opening weekend collections of Rs 28 crore, American gothic supernatural horror flick The Nun has fared the best out of all new offerings last Friday, including romantic tragedy Laila Majnu and war drama Paltan that made Rs 1.55 crore and Rs 5 crore respectively.
“The Nun takes an electrifying start,” tweeted trade analyst Taran Adarsh when the film made around Rs 8 crore on Friday. “Eclipses all releases - new as well as holdover titles.”
The Corin Hardy directed film that had released in 1,603 screens in India is a spin-off of 2016’s The Conjuring 2, and the fifth installment in The Conjuring Universe. Starring Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet, the plot follows a priest and a Catholic novitiate who discover a secret in 1952 Romania. The film that has grossed $131 million worldwide, belongs to a franchise that is already well-known in India with 2017’s Annabelle: Creation and 2016’s The Conjuring 2, the previous two installments having earned Rs 49.50 crore and Rs 61.78 crore in the country respectively. The Nun has evidently beaten their opening day collections of Rs 4.60 crore and Rs 5.25 crore respectively.
Trade website Box Office India compared the impressive collections of The Nun to a much bigger Hollywood film, Marvel’s Deadpool 2 that had made Rs 9.50 crore on its opening day, only slightly higher than the new film which isn’t children or family friendly at all.
The Nun carries forward the fantastic run that Hollywood films have had in India this year. Marvel’s superhero flick Avengers: Infinity War had emerged as the highest Hollywood grosser ever in the country with lifetime collections of Rs 227.43 crore after its April release. Other Hollywood hits this year include Marvel’s superhero films Black Panther and Deadpool 2 that earned Rs 52.53 crore and Rs 58.08 crore, respectively and Tom Cruise’s action film Mission: Impossible- Fallout that had collected Rs 80.20 crore.
To be sure, Hollywood alone isn’t scoring on the horror front. Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor’s modest-budgeted horror comedy Stree has done exceedingly well since its release ten days ago and had made Rs 81 crore at last count, heading to blockbuster status thanks to its Rs 20 crore budget. The film has made higher returns on investment than many big-ticket Bollywood hits of the year including Veere Di Wedding, Pad Man and Raid.