The movie “Oppenheimer” surpassed “Barbie” on Friday in advance ticket sales for its simultaneous releases in India, one of the largest film markets in the world and one of the few countries that bets more on the cinema of Christopher Nolan in front of the most famous doll in the world.
The pre-sale of the film directed by Nolan exceeded 300,000 tickets in the three main cinema chains in the country on just one of the sales platforms, multiplying by at least three the tickets sold for the one starring Margot Robbie in the main Indian cinemas.
“While both films are causing a stir around the world,”Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan has started on a very impressive note in India, as advance sales for the film on IMAX screens opened much earlier than usual,” said BookMyShow’s chief commercial officer, Ashish Saksena.
Although the success of both productions was expected in the western market, where Barbie maintains the leadership, the success in India surprises this nation dominated by national and Bollywood productions.
According to the estimate of the Indian specialized medium Pinkvilla, both feature films project net income of 2.4 million dollars during their run on just three of the main chains.
Only the data of “Oppenheimer” leaves behind the numbers of the recent release of Mission Impossible 7, Tom Cruise’s highest-grossing film in India, which upon its release on July 12 sold 28,000 tickets in three national cinema chains, according to Pinkvilla.
The furor over “Oppenheimer”, starring Cillian Murphy, is perceived in one of the main cinemas in New Delhi, which has sold out all the tickets for the various screenings of the film scheduled for today and much of the weekend.
For “Barbie”, meanwhile, there are few places available for today’s sessionsbut it has not yet filled the theaters of the Indian capital for this weekend.
India is the world’s largest film market, by number of tickets sold, with more than 980 million tickets sold in 2022, collectively exceeding all tickets sold in China, the United States, Mexico and Japan.
Although the market is dominated by Bollywood productionsmovie chains ensure that American productions are quickly gaining space.