Christopher Nolan’s espionage thriller, Tenet finally saw a release in India, almost three months after its theatrical release in the rest of the world. The film released on approximately 750 screens including IMAX, and as per early estimates has raked in Nett Collections in the range of Rs 1.75 to 2.25 crore on its opening day at the box-office in India.
The film has fared the best in its IMAX version, recording very good occupancy all across the IMAX screens in the country. For the 2D version, the biz was dominated by Mumbai and the southern belt, however, the rest of India didn’t really come on board as the collections were just about average. However, the release of Tenet and the fact that audiences are stepping out to watch the film is a positive sign for the Hindi film industry and a Hollywood film collecting almost Rs 2 crore on opening day with delayed released on just 50% capacity should give the Bollywood producers some confidence to release their film.
The opening is decent given the fact that a pirated version has been making rounds all across the country with very good video and audio quality in addition to the subtitles. The day one collections are a little lower than Nolan’s last film, Dunkirk, which had day one of Rs 3.5 crore. However, the real value of Tenet opening is far better than Dunkirk given that it had as many as four factors – delayed release, 50% capacity, piracy and Covid Pandemic – working against it. It would be interesting to see where the weekend is headed. The film stands a chance to collect in the range of Rs 6.5 crore plus over the three day weekend. The advance for Saturday is better than Friday, so one can expect a reasonable jump in collections.
What one should take home from Tenet is the fact that audiences are ready to venture to the cinema halls, provided the film warrants a big screen experience or has good content even in the midst of a pandemic. The day one footfalls of Tenet are around 1.25 lakh, which means, 1.25 lakh people stepped out of their home to watch the film in cinema halls. A promising sign indeed.
