Box office — Explosive opening for Avengers: Endgame at Rs52 crore

The keenly-awaited Hollywood film Avengers: Endgame has generated a record opening on its first day in India. The film, directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, earned Rs52 crore in India yesterday, as per figures shared by Boxofficeindia.com.

The film has become the second highest opener ever in India. The record is currently held by SS Rajamouli's Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017), which made over Rs100 crore on its first day in all languages. Avengers Endgame has surpassed the Rs40-crore figure of the Hindi version of Baahubali: The Conclusion.

What makes the numbers even special is that the film has been released on only 1,700 screens in India. The makers have released the film only in theatres with 2K technology. The screen count would have been way higher if they had released it even in theatres not having 2K technology.

Starring Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin, Tom Holland and others, the excitement for Avengers: Endgame was palpable as some theatres have shows as early as 3am.

Meanwhile, last week’s big Hindi release Kalank sank further on its first Friday yesterday as it made only Rs60 lakh. Starring Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Madhuri Dixit, Kunal Khemu, Sanjay Dutt and Sonakshi Sinha, the film is made at a budget of Rs150 crore. It’s overall number currently stands at just Rs74.60 crore. Kalank is directed by Abhishek Varman.

On its third Friday, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s The Tashkent Files managed to hold somehow by earning Rs30 lakh. The Shweta Basu Prasad-starrer has so far made Rs7.47 crore.