‘Kalki 2898 AD’ Flies At Specialty Box Office

Vyjayanthi Movies

There wasn’t a lot new opening this weekend specialty-wise but few notable holdovers continued to crank in moderate release, namely Kalki 2898 AD, which is on fire, as well as Thelma and Kinds of Kindness.

Kalki will end at No. 8 on 925 screens in week two, the second weekend in the top 10 for the Telugu sci-fi epic from Prathyangira Cinemas, which was No. 5 a week ago. That’s unusual, as Indian films tend to do most of their business opening weekend. Kalki, also outgrossed Kill, a Hindi action film that debuted this weekend.

With a $1.79 million gross and a cume of $16 million, Kalki is one of the highest grossing Indian film in North America in well over a year, according to data provided by Comscore. Hugely popular RRR in 2022 and Animal last year both ended their runs with about $15 million domestic. Paathan hit $17.5 million in 2023. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion took in $20 million in 2017.

Kill, which is Hindi but not traditional Bollywood (shorter and no musical numbers) had some rave reviews and is set for an English-language remake by Lionsgate, but didn’t hit as big with the Indian diaspora or with action genre fans, the other audience distributor Roadside Attractions was targeting. It saw $384.5k on 827 screens.

Meanwhile, Kinds of Kindness from Searchlight Pictures rounded out the top 10 on 920 screens in week 3. The Yorgos Lanthimos film starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons saw an estimated $860,000 over the three-day weekend for a cume of $3.8 million.

And Thelma from Magnolia Pictures took in another $760K on 620 screens, also in week 3. Josh Margolin’s feature debut toplined by June Squibb has an impressive cume of $6.85 million.

New limited release: Film Movement’s Mother Couch by Niclas Larsson starring Ewan McGregor, Rys Ifans, Ellen Burstyn and Laura Flynn Boyle, had a nice debut at the Angelika Film Center, grossing $9k from that one engagement. Opens in LA next week followed by top ten markets.

Holdovers: Sony Pictures Classics Daddio by Christy Hall with Dakota Fanning and Sean Penn saw $90k on 220 screens in week two for a cume of $770.7k.