July Box Office: Bollywood disappoints again; Hollywood delivers three back-to-back successes

The box office drought continues to be a concern for Bollywood especially where we are now nearing the end of the seventh month of the year 2023 and there is still a dearth of enough films delivering the numbers. June was a month of partial respite as both Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and SatyaPrem Ki Katha passing that 70 crore mark to be safe from being called an average performer but apart from that, it still continues to be a total dud where the mega film, Adipurush declined miserably after negative word-of-mouth and the recent release, Neeyat (read review here) was a non-starter.

But a lot was riding on the three possibly biggest releases coming in with Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (read review here), Barbie (read review here) and Oppenheimer (read review here). And oh boy has it delivered. Indian box office witnessing huge numbers when it comes to Hollywood films isn't a fresh occurrence where one would remember how Avengers: Endgame (read review here) decimated and outclassed all records over four years ago. But what makes the feat of these three films even more special is just how entirely different genres and audiences they belong to - and still managed to deliver numbers that are unprecedented.

The hype of BarbenHeimer and MI-7 was real as the box office report suggests-

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Week 1 - 80.25 crores*

Current BO - 92.50 crores*

The Tom Cruise-led mega film already has a huge following in India owing to the franchise's earlier films also being a rage. However, with MI-7, some records were indeed broken as the film witnessed a franchise best opening of 80.25 crores in the first week and the second weekend raked in a respectable 12.25 crores thus taking the total to 92.50 crores so far. This means that Tom Cruise is set to get his first 100 crore film in India and the second week total is amazing considering the competition from Barbie and Oppenheimer was massive.

Barbie

Friday - 4.50 crores*

Saturday - 6.50 crores*

Sunday - 7.25 crores*

Current BO - 18.25 crores*

I loved Greta Gerwig films so much but her features like Ladybird and Little Women continue to be have a niche audience even today. To be even thinking that a Gerwig film will manage to be a rage in India is huge and as we saw, that Barbie indeed had all the hype surrounding to it from all fronts. And hence a rising trend on the weekend saw Barbie rake in 18.25 crores which is a pretty good number considering it is up against Oppenheimer - a film directed by Christopher Nolan - a man who has a huge following in India since over a decade and a half. 

Oppenheimer

Friday - 14 crores*

Saturday - 17 crores*

Sunday - 17.25 crores*

Yeah! The Christopher Nolan following is real and it cannot be more true where a film that is three hours long, dialogue-heavy, information-dense and about an American theoretical physicist with a relatively unpopular face as the leading man raked in big moolah at the Indian box office. To be having an opening of 14 crores on Day 1 is a dream these days for even some of the biggest commercial Bollywood films and Oppenheimer managed to crack that number easily. The upward trend continued with 17 crores and 17.25 crores on the weekend, where now with a fantastic weekend of 48.25 crores, the film is already one of the highest-grossing films in terms of the weekend collection of 2023 in India. It should be noted that this is Nolan's first mega release in five years in India after Dunkirk (where Tenet released in the pandemic) and that benefits Oppenheimer as well. I mean, when was the last time you saw a film like this having a 3.45 am show going housefull!

Hopes are now pinned on Bollywood again as Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani arrives this week. The biggest draw for the film is that it is Karan Johar's return to direction after seven years and he has gone full Kjo style as he can go with the film. Will it deliver the goods or not, we can only wait and see.

*Note: Box office numbers are based on estimates and various sources. They aren't being verified by India Forums and remains to be seen in public domain.