The Hollywood movie Shang Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings has made a positive opening at the Indian box office. The movie made Rs3.25 crore nett yesterday, according to trade website BoxOfficeIndia.com.
This is the highest opening for any film released in India after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic subsided. It is also the second highest opening for a Hollywood movie released in India after the first countrywide lockdown imposed in March 2020. The highest was Rs6.25 crore by Godzilla Vs Kong in April this year.
To score more than a massy Indian film like the Akshay Kumar-starrer Bell Bottom, which was released on 19 August, and that too without any promotion is quite an achievement for Shang Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the film, based on Marvel Comics, stars Simu Liu, Awkwafina and Meng’er Zhang.
This week also saw the release of Fast & Furious 9 on Thursday. The hard-core action film has had an average journey so far at the Indian box office. After making Rs2 crore on its opening day, it saw numbers drop yesterday, making just Rs1.50 crore.
It should be remembered that both films have not been released in Maharashtra which is the country's biggest market for films and where theatres continue to remain shut after the second wave.
Bell Bottom and Chehre (2021), meanwhile, had a poor second and first week, respectively, till Thursday and so are expected to do only negligible business over the weekend, more so with the release of two Hollywood films.