Ramayana Makes UK History: First Indian Film Ever to Open No. 1 at the UK and Ireland Box Office

No Indian film had ever done it. Ramayana did it on opening weekend.

Sony's Ramayana: Rise of a Legend opened at No. 1 at the UK and Ireland box office with £2.1 million, about $2.8 million, Variety reported. It is the first Indian feature ever to debut at the top of that chart. The best any Indian title had managed before was second place, according to The Statesman.

Who it beat

The charts disagree on who finished second. Screen Daily has Godzilla Minus Zero in second with £1.1 million from 474 sites (£1.4 million with previews), which would make it the first weekend Asian films have ever held the top two places. Variety's chart puts Disney's Wild Horse Nine second and the Godzilla sequel third.

Either way, Ramayana outran every Hollywood release in the market.

The global picture

Worldwide, Godzilla Minus Zero won the weekend with about $63 million, and Ramayana followed with an estimated $55.7 million, most of it from India, Deadline reported. The Hollywood Reporter India ranked it second globally for the weekend.

The run has kept going. Indian trade tracking put the film near Rs 675 crore worldwide by day six, Zee Business reported.

Why it matters

England and Wales alone are home to about 1.9 million people of Indian heritage, by the 2021 census, but diaspora audiences alone have never pushed an Indian film to No. 1 there. Sony's wide release, an English-language version and a cast led by Ranbir Kapoor, Yash and Sai Pallavi changed the math. In North America, the film had already posted the biggest Bollywood previews on record.

Part Two is set for Diwali 2027. Will the second weekend hold the top spot?

Sources: Variety, Screen Daily, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter India, The Statesman and Zee Business. Links are in the story. UK census figure: Office for National Statistics, 2021. Reported independently by Newswire Hollywood in our own words.