Following the success of its December release Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel Studios is gearing up to make a big impact at the Indian box office with its new film Doctor Strange: In The Multiverse of Madness. In an unprecedented move, the film, which is set to be released on May 6, has already received 20 crores in bookings.
Although unlike Spider-Man, Doctor Strange is not entirely child-friendly and is suited to a more mature audience, analysts said. Despite this, theatre owners believe in the Marvel brand and anticipate that the film will earn between 25 and 30 crores on its opening day.
Spider-Man, which was released last December, made Rs. 32.67 crore on its first day and finished with lifetime earnings of Rs. 218.41 crore, whereas the first Doctor Strange instalment, which was released in 2016, began with Rs. 2.63 crore and ended with Rs. 25.2 crore.
“The buzz surrounding Doctor Strange is fantastic, and it’s following in the footsteps of Spider-Man in December.” “This just reinforces Marvel’s undisputed hold on fans in the country over so many years, a significant portion of whom support each of its films,” said Kamal Gianchandani, chief executive officer at PVR Pictures Ltd. While the 15-35 age group dominates the Marvel fan base in India, there is a 60:40 skew in favour of men, according to Gianchandani.
Vishek Chauhan, an independent exhibitor in Bihar’s Purnea, said bookings for Doctor Strange had surpassed those for the late-March period drama RRR and were second only to K.G.F: Chapter 2.
“The only limitation for these Hollywood films is that they can only be released in DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives)-compliant theatres, but that is compensated for by how crazy people are for these brands,” Chauhan explained.
DCI is a collaboration between several film studios, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros, to establish a common set of requirements to ensure a high and uniform standard of digital cinema viewing.
However, given the failure of last week’s Eid releases—Heropanti 2 and Runway 34—Chauhan predicts a smooth run for Doctor Strange, with a weekend of Rs. 70-80 crore and lifetime collections of Rs. 150-175 crore.
Doctor Strange, one of the most popular characters in the much-loved Marvel Cinematic Universe, has an extremely strong screen presence helmed by Benedict Cumberbatch, who also has a strong fan following in India, and the second part of the movie franchise has been hugely awaited for a long time now, Saksena added.
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