ADIPURUSH had the tenth highest opening ever as it recorded collections of 36 crore nett plus. It is third biggest opening ever featuring a male lead from South India though both the other two films in the top ten were driven by the branding of those films where the first part proved huge successful.

ADIPURUSH is the first film with a South lead to open at these levels without franchise value though the Ramayana factor is an added advantage. But numbers say that Prabhas is the biggest star from South in the Hindi belts at the moment although the scale and genre of the film is huge importance to generate interest. This is because if the film looks regular even with a budget like RADHE SHYAM, then it falls flat on the first day. There are many of these major South heroes coming with films next year without franchise value and it remains to be seen what happens. PUSHPA 2 – THE RULE will be a sensation but that is more like a BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION and KGF - CHAPTER 2 with huge branding due to the first film.

Despite the box office going through a lean phase, there are still 3 releases post the pandemic which are among the top ten openers of all time including the top two. This is because a film which looks spectacular and is cinematic has higher potential as this is what the audience is turning up for in numbers. Basically the bigger films have potential to do more than before the pandemic while the box office of smaller medium films is down.

The top ten openings of all time are as follows with screen count in brackets.

1. Pathaan - 55,72,00,000 (5000)

2. KGF - Chapter 2 - 52,39,00,000 (4500)

3. War - 50,61,00,000 (3850)

4. Thugs Of Hindostan - 48,27,00,000 (4700)

5. Bharat - 41,62,00,000 (4650)

6. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion - 40,73,00,000 (3950)

7. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo - 39,32,00,000 (4200)

8. Sultan - 36,59,00,000 (4350)

9. Happy New Year - 36,31,00,000 (3850)