Hollywood film Michael grossed Rs. 6.50 crore (USD 690K) approx on Saturday, bringing its two-day cumulative box office collections in India to Rs. 12.70 crore (USD 1.35 million) approx. The film showcased a solid 45 per cent growth, which, from advances, seemed like it would be somewhat muted, but walk-up business was pretty good yesterday. The weekend is on course to reach around Rs. 20 crore, which is a superb number for a Hollywood musical biopic.
For some perspective, Bohemian Rhapsody, which grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide, could earn only Rs. 7 crore in India. Not a biopic, but Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour had collected Rs. 13 crore in the country.
Michael continues to be driven by South Indian circuits, albeit to a lesser degree, as Hindi circuits had better growth coming in on Saturday. Tamil Nadu – Kerala remained the top territory, followed by Karnataka, with Mumbai coming in at third. This is down to a lack of popularity of English music in the Hindi belt, which was mostly a niche urban Indian phenomenon, while the local music dominated the market. In India, Michael Jackson was probably more popular for his dance and traditionally, dance films have done better in Mumbai and South India, underperforming in the North.
Michael has opened strongly worldwide. In North America, it is on track to gross USD 90-100 million over its opening weekend. The overseas weekend is projected to be USD 111 million by the studio. The worldwide weekend will be north of USD 200 million; in the long run, it could aim for USD 1 billion.
The Box Office Collections for Michael in India are as follows:
Day
Gross
Previews
Rs. 1.70 cr.
Friday
Rs. 4.50 cr.
Saturday
Rs. 6.50 cr.
Total
Rs. 12.70 cr.
