BO Report: Uunchai Shows Fantastic Trending, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Earns Over 50 cr In 1st Weekend

There is a reason to rejoice as the weekend gone by saw over 50 crores come in at the box office. What makes it all the more exciting is the fact that it has happened from unexpected quarters as the films which have managed this feat are Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Unchai, none of which are event releases. Of course, the lion's share comes from the Hollywood superhero film but then the Bollywood release has made its contribution as well, something that has resulted in a half century been scored over the weekend gone by.

Let's talk about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever first. This is yet another Marvel offering of the year after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, both of which had scored a century each at the box office. While former had of course opened huge [28.35 crores], the latter was good too at 11.40 crores. Now, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has opened better at 12.50 crores and with positive reports coming its way, the film is set to hit a century as well.

Currently, the film stands at 42 crores*, what with added growth coming on Saturday and Sunday, and before the close of the week it will comfortably surpass the 60 crores mark. It is wonderful to see the manner in which Marvel superhero films have found their bearings amongst the Indian audience as film after film, there are big numbers coming in. Moreover, there is no overdose of promotion or marketing effort either as just the release announcement, posters and promos are unveiled with some in-theatre publicity and audience just bag them big time.

Meanwhile, audiences are giving a nod of approval to Uunchai as well. The Sooraj Barjatya film opened at 1.81 crores and then it all boiled down to whether there would be growth over rest of the weekend. It was always going to be tricky since the decision to give the film a sparse release could have easily backfired, had audiences not caught fancy to it. Of course, the film didn't warrant a 1000 screen release but then to arrive at less than 500 screens was a decision that Barjatyas took while hoping that there would be full houses soon enough.

Well, things had started shaping up well by Friday evening itself but then it all boiled down to how big the momentum would be on Saturday. After all, a start of 1.81 crores was fine but it was still not the kind where just 40%-50% jump would have sufficed. It needed to be much more than with 100% jump being ideal and 75% being a bare minimum requirement. Thankfully for all involved with the film, it was more than 100% and that's what resulted in first Saturday being truly excellent in terms of growth and then Sunday turning out to be wonderful as well.

As a result, the Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher and Boman Irani starrer currently stands at 10.50 crores*. Now that's a very good number when one looks at where it has reached from where it started. Of course a lot more still needs to be done since this one is an expensive film and hence a good deal of moolah needs to come from theatrical revenue as well. However, a start has been made and now if the film ends up trending like Kantara [Hindi] which started at 1.27 crores and today stands at close to 75 crores, then sky would be the limit for Uunchai.

*Estimates. Final numbers awaited