On Friday, the highly-anticipated Hollywood film The Batman hit the screens worldwide. In India, it will be able to get the second-best opening at the box office for an international release during COVID-19 after last year's December release Spider-Man: No Way Home. As per a Box Office India report, The Batman's opening was strong at Rs 6-7 crore and it may rise depending on what the South markets contribute. Even though its collections are quite low when compared with the huge numbers of Spider-Man: No Way Home on day one, around Rs 32 crore, it is a good sign for the Warner Bros film. The Batman has very good collections in Mumbai city and Delhi city due to the bigger multiplexes, said the BOI report.
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Because of The Batman's release, Alia Bhatt-starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi's collections have dipped, but not by a considerable margin. In its second weekend now, Alia's film managed to earn Rs 4.50 crore, taking its total in the range of Rs 72-73 crore after eight days. This film has found its place among the top three earning films during the pandemic in the first week, only behind Sooryavanshi (Rs 120 crore) and 83 (Rs 71 crore). If it manages to do good business over the second weekend, chances are it may enter the Rs 100 crore club.
Meanwhile, Amitabh Bachchan's Jhund, which marks Marathi director Nagraj Manjule's foray into Hindi films, has registered very low opening day numbers at box office after releasing on March 4. The business of this movie will be dictated by the markets in Maharashtra, given Manjule's popularity in the state. A BOI report said that Jhund's day one collections were very low at Rs 1 crore. It further said that the film only has chances to work in Maharashtra.
Jhund is inspired by the life of Slum Soccer founder Vijay Barse, a retired teacher who gives the opportunity to slum-dwelling children to play football. the movie has earned positive reviews for its storytelling and commentary on caste and class issues. It will be interesting to see how it performs at the box office in the coming days.
