Ponniyin Selvan: the historic blockbuster takes control of the box office

The historic blockbuster Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 directed by Mani Ratnam smashes everything in its run at the local and international box office.

Released in theaters worldwide on September 30, 2022, Ponniyin Selvan was expected as one of the events of the year in India. Dream project carried by filmmaker Mani Ratnam for many years, adapted from a classic of Tamil literature, carried by an insane cast, everything seemed to promise the film a huge success. And this is largely the case.

Aiming for the moon, it doesn’t scare him

THE BUSINESS THRONE

An emblematic figure of Tamil auteur cinema, Mani Ratnam had the ambition to create the ultimate historical film with Ponniyin Selvantotally against the current of the ultra-spectacular costumed blockbuster RRR. And judging by the start week, it’s more than successful. Ponniyin Selvan grossed a total gross of approximately $26.5 million at the local box office over its first seven days.

It is simply the best start week for a tamil movie this year, well ahead of the event vikram and its $20.5 million. Another extremely encouraging point, Ponniyin Selvan shows exemplary stability during the week. An extremely rare occurrence in South India which usually sees colossal starts but very short term performance.

Forget Rhaenyra, the real queen is here

Historically, Mani Ratnam’s film even becomes the second best start week ever in kollywoodbehind the nearly $38 million raised by 2.0 in 2018. Note, however, that the latter had the advantage of being a sequel and had a much wider distribution on the Hindi market.

All Indian industries combined, Ponniyin Selvan achieves the third best start week this year at the domestic box office. Monsters RRR ($68 million) and KGF: Chapter 2 ($70.5 million) remain totally out of reach, but the film still tops the recent Brahmastra Part One: Shiva and its $25.5 million.

A blockbuster like no other

TICKET TO PARADISE

Also internationally, Mani Ratnam’s feature film broke records by collecting around 14.6 million dollars over the week. It’s already close to surpassing the blockbuster’s final total vikram which collected 15.21 million overseas at the end of the race. At this point, all he has to do is aim for the $21 million of 2.0 if he wants to become biggest tamil hits in international history. Nothing is won, but it is totally possible.

With a total worldwide gross of $41.1 million, Ponniyin Selvan is already the third biggest historical success of Tamil cinema. It will most certainly exceed vikram ($54 million) to take second place, even though the record 2.0 ($82 million) should be safe for a few more months.

On the march to crush everything

This colossal triumph is all the more impressive because Mani Ratnam’s film is not a typical blockbuster with its slow pace and desire to focus on political issues rather than battle scenes. Its sequel, slated for next year, could well push Tamil cinema to new heights.