The Hollywood horror film The Mummy directed by Lee Cronin is continuing its run in India with steady box office numbers. On its second Friday, the film earned around Rs 1.75 crore. This is only a 12 percent drop compared to its opening day, showing that the film is holding its audience fairly well.
After 8 days in theatres, the total collection of the film in India stands at about Rs 18.75 crore, which is close to USD 2 million. The second weekend is expected to add around Rs 8 crore more. If this happens, the total collection could reach around Rs 25 crore by Sunday. Based on its current trend, the film may finish its full run in the range of Rs 35 to Rs 40 crore, which would be considered a strong performance for a small budget horror film.
A major part of the film’s earnings is coming from South India. In particular, Tamil Nadu is performing very strongly. On the second Friday, the state contributed more than 40 percent of the total collections. During the first weekend, its share was between 20 and 25 percent, but this has steadily increased during the weekdays.
Usually, Tamil Nadu contributes only about 10 percent to Hollywood film collections in India. Markets like Mumbai, Delhi UP, and Mysore generally lead. However, in this case, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are leading the performance. The Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions of the film in these two states are earning more than the English and Hindi versions across the country. This shows that horror films can attract a wide audience, especially in regional markets.
The title The Mummy is familiar to Indian audiences because of the earlier popular film series. The 1999 film earned around Rs 20 crore in India. Its sequels, The Mummy Returns and The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, collected about Rs 27 crore and Rs 48 crore respectively. When adjusted for today’s value, these figures are close to Rs 200 crore.
Even though the new film is not directly connected to that earlier series, the well known title may have helped attract attention. Based on its current performance, the film has a chance to become a successful release in India and could be one of the notable Hollywood performers of the year.