Hollywood’s tentpoles and franchise films have contributed significantly to the Indian box office this year. Global blockbusters like Joseph Kosinski’s sports drama F1, starring Brad Pitt, Gareth Edwards’ action adventure Jurassic World Rebirth, starring Scarlett Johansson, and Christopher McQuarrie’s spy thriller Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning have all crossed the Rs 100 crore mark in India. Even the horror hit Final Destination Bloodlines managed to make more than Rs 70 crore.
Now, the next Hollywood import that’s likely to follow is Michael Chaves’ supernatural horror film The Conjuring: Last Rites, which is the final instalment in the hugely popular Conjuring franchise. As it hits the Indian screens this Friday on September 5, it will compete with two Hindi releases — A Harsha’s action thriller Baaghi 4, starring Tiger Shroff and Sanjay Dutt, and Vivek Agnihotri’s political drama The Bengal Files, starring yesteryear superstar Mithun Chakraborty.
However, as per Pinkvilla, The Conjuring: Last Rites is way ahead of the Hindi releases as far as advance ticket sales in India are concerned. The horror flick has already sold over 80,000 tickets across the PVR-INOX and Cinepolis cinema chains. Going by the current trajectory, it’s estimated to open in double digits at Rs 15 crore on Friday.
In comparison, Baaghi 4 has registered an advance booking of Rs 5.21 crore so far, which includes Rs 2.43 crore of block booking, as per Sacnilk. The previous three instalments of the Tiger Shroff franchise opened at over Rs 11 crore, Rs 25 crore, and Rs 17 crore, respectively. To make matters worse, Baaghi 4 is also ‘A’ certified (Adults Only), as producer Sajid Nadiadwala hopes to take it in the direction of the 2023 blockbuster, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s family drama Animal, which earned over Rs 500 crore at the domestic box office.
The Bengal Files hasn’t yet earned even a fraction of either The Conjuring: Last Rites or Baaghi 4. So far, it has sold tickets in advance worth only Rs 45 lakh, which includes over Rs 30 lakh of block booking. While The Bengal Files isn’t a franchise film like the other two, it’s a part of Agnihotri’s thematically connected trilogy. While the first part, The Tashkent Files (2019), earned Rs 36 lakh on the opening day, its more controversial follow-up The Kashmir Files opened at Rs 3.55 crore in 2022, before going on to become a blockbuster.
The Rs 15 crore opening will also make The Conjuring: Last Rites the franchise’s biggest opening in India. Its first instalment, James Wan’s The Conjuring (2013), opened at Rs 80 lakh at the Indian box office. It was followed by John R Leonetti’s spin-off Annabelle, which earned Rs 2.18 crore on its opening day in India. Wan’s The Conjuring 2 (2016) followed up with Rs 7 crore. Up next was David F Sandberg’s Annabelle: Creation (2017), opening at Rs 6 crore in India.
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A new spin-off, Corin Hardy’s The Nun, earned Rs 10.8 crore on the opening day in India in 2018, the highest any film of the franchise has opened at so far. Gary Dauberman’s Annabelle Comes Home dipped down to Rs 3.75 crore on its first day at the Indian box office. Michael Chaves’ The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It premiered directly on Prime Video India in 2021 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic-induced theatre shutdown. The latest instalment of the Conjuring franchise, Chaves’ The Nun II, clashed with Atlee’s blockbuster action thriller Jawan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, at the Indian box office in 2023, but still managed to open at Rs 3.1 crore.
