Jio Studios and B62 Studios’ “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” has delivered an unprecedented opening weekend, grossing INR761 crores ($82.4 million) worldwide and setting new benchmarks for Hindi-language cinema globally.
The Aditya Dhar-directed spy-action sequel, which opened March 19, recorded the highest opening weekend ever for a Hindi-language film worldwide, driven by extraordinary advance bookings and sold-out shows across circuits. While Allu Arjun’s Telugu-language film “Pushpa 2: The Rule” holds the overall Indian film opening weekend record at $92.5 million, including a Hindi dubbed version, “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” has set the benchmark for Hindi-language cinema and achieved an overseas opening weekend of $22.8 million.
The opening weekend gross breaks down to $59.5 million in India and $22.8 million overseas across the four-day extended opening that included Wednesday paid previews in North America.
The film set multiple all-time records in India including highest advance sales ever, highest paid previews ever, fastest film to INR300 crores ($31.9 million) locally, and most tickets sold on first Saturday. BookMyShow reported a record 109,170 tickets sold per hour, the platform’s highest-ever rate.
Internationally, the sequel achieved the highest opening day for an Indian film without Gulf territories, the highest single day ever for an Indian film on Saturday with $6.2 million, and ranked No. 2 on Comscore across major markets while topping secondary markets. The film mounted the widest overseas release for a Hindi film across approximately 2,200 cinemas and 3,000 screens without Gulf territories.
In North America, “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” collected $10 million over the weekend and $14 million for the extended five-day launch, setting a new benchmark for Hindi-language releases. The film topped the previous Bollywood record held by Shah Rukh Khan’s “Pathaan,” which bowed to $6.9 million in its opening three days and $9.5 million over five days in 2023. The debut landed just shy of the all-time Indian film opening held by S.S. Rajamouli’s “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion,” which launched to $10.4 million domestically in 2017.
In the U.K., “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” debuted at No. 2 in the overall box office with an estimated $2.8 million (£2.2 million) opening weekend, emerging as one of the top-performing Indian titles in the market in recent years.
The sequel expanded into non-traditional territories for Bollywood including Uruguay, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Chile, Mexico and Cyprus.
In North America, the film played across 185 screens in its re-release of the first installment, with the sequel offering Wednesday premiere shows March 18 across the U.S. and Canada. The advance shows predominantly utilized Premium Large Format auditoriums equipped with oversized screens, Dolby Atmos audio, enhanced projection and premium seating. Mid-week premieres sold out at numerous locations.
The overseas weekend delivered $22.7 million across four days including U.S.-Canada Wednesday previews, with daily breakdowns of $5.5 million Thursday, $4.9 million Friday, $6.2 million Saturday and $6 million Sunday.
Ranveer Singh returns in dual avatars, with R. Madhavan as Ajay Sanyal, Arjun Rampal as ISI Major Iqbal, Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam, and Sara Arjun.
Written, directed and produced by Aditya Dhar, with Jyoti Deshpande and Lokesh Dhar also producing, the film released in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam, timed to Gudi Padwa and Ugadi celebrations ahead of Eid.
The performance follows the original “Dhurandhar,” which emerged as the biggest Hindi film globally. Jio Studios brought the first installment back to theaters March 12-13 across 500 screens worldwide in a rare international re-release ahead of the sequel’s bow.
