Devara: Part 1 has made a splash at the domestic box office. The new Telugu-language action movie stars N. T. Rama Rao Jr. in a dual role as the titular village chieftain and his own son Varadha. This marks the star’s first role since the 2022 smash hit RRR, which won an Oscar for Best Original Song and became the third highest-grossing Indian movie of all time. The cast of Devara, which was written and directed by Koratala Siva, also includes Saif Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Shruti Marathe, Prakash Raj, Srikanth, and Shine Tom Chacko.
Per Deadline, as of Sunday morning, Devara: Part 1 is projected to earn a 3-day total of $5.6 million by the end of its opening weekend at the domestic box office. This places it at No. 4 on the domestic Top 5 chart for the weekend, outgrossing the No. 5 title, which is Speak No Evil ($4.3 million), as well as the new release Francis Ford Coppola title Megalopolis, which debuted at No. 6 with $4 million. It is the second highest-grossing new release of the weekend behind DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot, which debuted at No. 1 with $35 million.
What This Opening Weekend Means For Devara: Part 1
The Movie Could Become A Colossal Hit
While it has become more and more common for Indian releases to debut in the Top 10 at the domestic box office in the wake of RRR, Devara: Part 1 is the highest-charting Indian debut in North America this year. This includes the big-budget Kalki 2898 AD, a record-breaking title that is India’s most expensive movie ever and debuted at No. 5 with a total just slightly higher than Devara‘s at $5.67 million. Below, see how the new movie compares to the opening weekend of every Indian release to debut in the domestic Top 10 so far in 2024:
|
Title |
Rank |
Opening Weekend |
|---|---|---|
|
Devara: Part 1 |
No. 4 |
$5.6 million |
|
Stree 2 |
No. 10 |
$2.4 million |
|
Raayan |
No. 10 |
$453,000 |
|
Bad Newz |
No. 9 |
$1.07 million |
|
Indian 2 |
No. 10 |
$1.2 million |
|
Kalki 2898 AD |
No. 5 |
$5.67 million |
|
Tillu Square |
No. 8 |
$1.87 million |
|
Crew |
No. 9 |
$1.5 million |
The movie being neck and beck with Kalki 2898 AD shows that it has strong box office potential. The earlier title, which already has a sequel in the works, was a global box office smash that has since become the seventh highest-grossing Indian movie of all time worldwide. Stree 2, which opened to less than half of Devara‘s domestic debut, likewise climbed to become the highest-grossing Hindi-language movie of all time in India and the 10th highest-grossing Indian movie of all time worldwide.
Our Take On The Devara: Part 1 Domestic Debut
Devara’s Future Looks Bright
It remains to be seen if Devara: Part 1 shows the same kind of worldwide box office growth as Kalki 2898 AD or Stree 2. However, if international markets embrace the new Indian action movie at the same level as the domestic audience, it could become another record-breaking smash for the region in 2024. The fact that its budget is exactly half that of Kalki also means that, even if it falls slightly short of that movie’s worldwide gross, it will likely turn a much larger profit and break even significantly quicker.
Source: Deadline
