Ramayana Makes History: Ranbir Kapoor and Yash Epic Posts the Biggest Bollywood Previews Ever in North America

Hollywood, meet the biggest movie you haven't been watching.

Ramayana: Part 1, starring Ranbir Kapoor as Rama and Yash as Ravana, took in about $2 million from its North American premiere shows, roughly $1.65 million in the US and CAD 350,000 in Canada, Pinkvilla reported. That makes it the biggest Bollywood preview gross ever in the US.

The numbers behind the hype

Worldwide advance sales passed Rs 140 crore before release, Pinkvilla reported, and the film opened to about Rs 25.89 crore net on day one in India, according to tracker Sacnilk. Pinkvilla had it eyeing a $20 million-plus overseas opening weekend.

The bet is enormous. The two-part production carries a reported budget of Rs 4,000 crore, roughly $450 million, including marketing, which would put it among the most expensive film projects anywhere in the world.

Why Hollywood should care

It goes head to head with Godzilla Minus Zero this weekend, and Deadline's own preview asked whether Ramayana could "upset the lizard." Two non-English films fighting for the top of the global chart on the same weekend is the clearest sign yet that the box office no longer runs only through Burbank.

The timing is built for it: the release lands days before Diwali, when families across the diaspora go to the movies together.

Have you got tickets? Tell us where you're seeing it.

Sources: Pinkvilla, Sacnilk, Deadline and Wikipedia's production record. Links are in the story where available. Reported independently by Newswire Hollywood in our own words.