The Kerala Story earned as much as Rs 35 crore* (Rs 350 million) at the box office in its opening weekend, surprising everyone, including its makers.
No one was expecting this small film with a budget of under Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) to bring in the big bucks at the box office.
The promotion and marketing of the film lasted less than a fortnight, there was no saleable cast that could bring in audiences on the very first day, the director was making his debut, there were no songs and dances that could build further awareness, the industry wasn't patronising the film and there was no pre-release hype created either.
Typically, films of this size, scale and cast struggle to see a respectable release and even if they do, it's a formality at best with a few shows reserved in some key multiplexes.
However, organic awareness for the film coupled with the fact that there was no other Bollywood release in the running meant that The Kerala Story released on over 1,000 screens.
Not that a big release guarantees a big opening as well. but this is what happened in case of The Kerala Story.
The word of mouth was positive, and that ensured that the evening and night shows picked up further momentum, resulting in first day collections of Rs 8.03 crore (Rs 80.3 million).
In comparison, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 had weekend collections of Rs 25 crore* (Rs 250 million).
The franchise is not really popular in India with the first installment going completely unnoticed and the second bringing in a lifetime of a mere Rs 13.80 crore (Rs 138 million).
Compared to that, the final part has done almost double that business in its opening weekend itself.
Of late though, the results haven't been very favorable for Marvel as its last outing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended up with a lifetime collections of Rs 43.69 crore (Rs 436.9 million).
By the look of things, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 may end up even lower.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.
