Box office: Spider-Man, Pushpa hold firm; 83 falters on first Monday

Kabir Khan's nostalgic 83 (2021) has been off to a slow start at the box office with the sports film seeing a slight drop in collections on its first Monday in theatres. According to the trade website BoxOfficeIndia.com, the film, led by Ranveer Singh, earned approximately Rs7 crore yesterday, a significant drop from its Sunday collection of Rs16.50 crore.

While a drop on Monday is natural given that it's the start of the workweek, it is the film's slow beginning on the weekend that has pegged it back. 83, also starring Pankaj Tripathi and a host of stars from various regional language cinemas, managed to collect just Rs44.91 crore nett on the first weekend in cinemas. The Monday collection takes it past the Rs50 crore mark, to Rs51.91 crore.

Despite the early setback, BoxOfficeIndia.com suggested that the film may hold up well over the week, taking its collection to a projected Rs70 crore.

By comparison, the Allu Arjun-Rashmika Mandanna entertainer Pushpa: The Rise (2021) continues to do strongly in its second week. After finishing with a total of Rs36.80 crore last weekend, the Hindi version of the Telugu film opened to decent numbers on Monday, collecting Rs2.75 crore nett, an improvement over its Rs2.50 crore collection on Friday.

According to the website, the total collection of the Hindi dubbed version now stands at Rs39.91 crore, a shade under the Rs40 crore mark. Trade reports say the film has done good business in Maharashtra and Gujarat and is holding up well in the Delhi/Uttar Pradesh region. This despite the presence of mainstream entertainers in Spider-Man: No Way Home and 83 is a promising sign for the makers of Pushpa.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood superhero film continued its great run at the box office with Rs4.50 crore on its second Monday. While the number is a drop from Rs10 crore nett on Sunday, it puts the film in a strong position, with an overall collection of Rs179.31 crore, to bid for becoming the first foreign film to hit the Rs200 crore mark on these shores in the post-pandemic era.

The news portal CNN.com reported that the film, featuring Tom Holland and Zendaya in the lead, has already reached $1 billion at the global box office. Sony Entertainment announced that the film has become the first to cross the number since 2019, making it the first blockbuster from the studio in the post-pandemic era.