Despite controversy, Hollywood film Oppenheimer continues to rake in moolah unlike B

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Updated At:Aug 05, 202307:03 AM (IST)

Oppenheimer

Sheetal

Barbenheimer continues to rule the box-office worldwide as well as in India. While Barbie has crossed $800 million mark in merely two weeks of release, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer managed to surpass Barbie in India despite the Bhagavad Gita controversy. The latter has collected over Rs 100-crore in two weeks and will surely surpass other Hollywood successes of the year, including the recent Tom Cruise outing Mission: Impossible — The Dead Reckoning Part One (Rs 110-crore). These are huge numbers when compared to Bollywood films, which are failing to lure the public into theatres. Here’s a look at the recent numbers.

Quite a contrast

After minting Rs 48-crore in the opening weekend, Oppenheimer has not looked back despite the controversy. It is about to break Vin Diesel’s Fast X’s India collection (Rs 108.83-crore). But at the same time, it comes as a surprise that Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which has managed to earn double the collection of Oppenheimer globally, didn’t charm the Indian audience. Soon to enter the ‘one billion club’, it has crossed $800 million dollar mark worldwide, yet its India collection amounts to just Rs 34-crore.

Super league

If one looks at the trend, franchise films as well as superhero flicks are popular among Indian masses. Thus, it’s no surprise that several other western films cast a spell on the audiences in India this year. These include Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Rs 110.45-crore), Fast X (Rs 108.83-crore), Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3 (Rs 52.34-crore), John Wick: Chapter 4 (Rs 53.21-crore), Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Rs 44.85-crore) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Rs 43.69-crore). Similarly, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Rs 130-crore), Thor: Love And Thunder (Rs 101.71-crore), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Rs 69.55-crore), Black Adam (Rs 48.13-crore) and The Batman (Rs 48.10-crore) are some of the successful Hollywood projects from last year.

As for Bollywood films, Pathaan (Rs 543.05-crore) did well due to the impressive cast and SRK’s return. The Kerala Story (Rs 242.20-crore) and Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (Rs 149.05-crore) also did fairly well.

In the past Year

In 2022, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water (English) earned Rs 378-crore in India and no Bollywood film came even close. From the South Indian hits, only KGF Chapter 2 was able to push through with Rs 434-crore in total collections in India. Other films, including RRR (Rs 274.31-crore), Brahmastra – Part One: Shiva (Rs 257.44-crore), The Kashmir Files (Rs 252.90-crore) and Drishyam 2 (Rs 240.54-crore), did well at the box-office but couldn’t go as big as Avatar 2.

While Hollywood’s convincing VFX is the reason for more people visiting theatres, experts also believe that their scripts are better researched. After all Cameron didn’t wake up one fine day to make an Avatar sequel; he only went ahead when he had a proper script in mind!

(Inputs by Puneet Kaur Thind)

Rise above the ordinary

Most of the Western films that do good business in India are larger-than-life kind of movies. Significant money, effort and time have been invested into creating a unique experience. They go beyond just being a movie; they become a captivating story and a theatrical experience. But the films being made in Bollywood lack the grand cinematic experience.

Rahul Sharma, actor

Quality matters the most

As always, content is king. Hollywood is churning out content that the audience wants to see, while, unfortunately, Bollywood lacks quality films. Makers continue to produce the same repetitive content, which people have grown very sick and tired of. We have to change our content if we want to see a change in the industry.

Nikhil Nanda, actor

South-Indian films shine

I believe we are still primarily catering to the local audience. However, when we look at Hollywood, we see that their cinema captures the world audience. Nevertheless, we also have movies like Baahubali, RRR, Dangal and Lagaan, which have successfully captured the attention of the global audience, showcasing our immense potential. Instead of solely seeking inspiration from Hollywood, we should turn our gaze towards South Indian film industry.

Paridhi Sharma, actress

No way out

I don’t think Bollywood can easily bounce back as there is a huge list of flop movies and the reason is very clear — our content is extremely outdated and poor. If RRR, Bahubali, Pushpa and Kantara can work in cinemas then we sure don’t lack the ability to make good cinema. But we are not giving freedom to Indian actors and directors. Otherwise, why Indian originals series are appreciated and not theatrical outings? It’s a shame that no organisation in India can do something about it.

Anupama Solanki, actress

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