It was a close race between the three Bollywood films at the North American box office as the triplet of Luka Chuppi, Gully Boy and Total Dhamaal bring in the weekend numbers with barely $50k dividing the number one with number three. Overall, the Indian films playing in the USA and Canada grossed $1.69 million, down 33 per cent from last weekend.
New release Luka Chuppi took the top spot with $490k during the weekend, playing on 148 sites. The weekend numbers are almost double of Karthik Aryan’s previous film Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, which opened with $250,654 and closed just over a million dollar. The legs for this flick may not be that flexed since the opening is much bigger, but $1.5-1.7 million full run can be expected.
At second place was Gully Boy, now in its third weekend, grossing $445k, down 55 per cent from last weekend, which puts its running total just under $5 million at $4.94 million. The film is heading for a full run near $5.5 million, which will be 13th highest of all time for an Indian film. When all things will be said and done, Ranveer Singh will have four films in the top fifteen of all time, which is joint highest with Aamir Khan.
At third place, Total Dhamaal in its sophomore session dropped by 56 per cent, grossing $441k for a total that now stands at $1.74 million. The film is currently trailing behind Golmaal Again by around 5 per cent and is expected to conclude at $2.25 million approx, making it second biggest Ajay Devgn film in states.
Telugu film 118 was distant fourth with $74k ($82k including Thursday). The film is an own release by the producers. Sonchiriya was a non-starter with just $60k weekend, not much ahead of distributor’s other film Uri: The Surgical Strike which stands at $4.19 million 7 weeks in release.
Top Indian films at North American box office during the weekend were as follow.
1. Luka Chuppi: $485k
2. Gully Boy : $445k & Total : $4.945 Mn
3. Total Dhamaal : $440k & Total : $1.736Mn
4. 118 : $74k & Total : $82k
5. Kala Shah Kala : $62k & Total : $0.73 Mn
6. Sonchiriya : $60k
7. Uri: The Surgical Strike: $35k & $4.149 Mn
8. Kodathi Samaksham Balam Vakeel: $25k
9. High End Yaariyan: $24k
10. Thadam: $17k
