After being delayed for over two months from its original release date, director Christopher Nolan’s espionage thriller Tenet finally made it onto Indian screens on Friday. Despite only releasing in 750 theaters across India, the film managed to make an estimated Rs 1.75 – 2.25 crore within 24 hours of its release at the Indian Box Office alone.
The film has done well for itself in its IMAX version, attaining a constant occupancy rate throughout IMAX screens all across the country. For it’s 2D version, trade was dominated by Mumbai and Southern Belt– but parts of India hardly came on board as collections were just about standard. However, the release of Tenet and the fact that people are still going to watch this movie is somewhat promising because despite being released later then originally planned, it still managed to make close to Rs.2 crores on opening day only with around 50% capacity turnout which will hopefully reassure Bollywood producers so they can focus more time releasing films themselves instead of waiting for others too.
The opening was mediocre due to the number of illegal copies that were circulating across the country with high video and audio quality, along with subtitles. The day one box office earnings were around Rs 3.5 crores – lower than Nolan’s last film, Dunkirk – which raked in Rs 4 crore in its first 12 hours. However, Tenet still holds a better position at the box office considering it faced numerous challenges; delayed release, low theatre occupancy rates (50%), piracy, and Covid Pandemic. All this means is we’ll have to wait until Sunday before really knowing how much money this movie will take in total.
What an audience should remember after Tenet is that they are willing to venture into cinemas as long as the movie has big-screen quality, or if it’s a well-produced and captivating film despite the pandemic. More than 12 thousand people walked out of their homes in order to see this specific movie on its opening day. This was a promising sign for sure!
