One sequel has become the weekend’s surprise draw: Dhurandhar: The Revenge posted one of the biggest North American openings for a Bollywood release, underlining strong demand for diaspora-targeted blockbusters. The four-hour Aditya Dhar production plugged into packed theaters and early-week previews to deliver a breakout result that could reshape spring programming decisions.
The film opened on 987 screens and earned roughly $10 million over the traditional weekend window, rising to about $14 million when preview and Thursday performances are counted. That performance placed it at No. 3 at the box office and eclipsed the opening pace of 2023’s Pathaan, which had debuted to smaller midweek-inclusive totals.
- Dhurandhar: The Revenge — ~$14M total (including previews); ~987 screens; No. 3 weekend rank.
- The Pout-Pout Fish — ~$1.5M; 1,854 screens; family-oriented PG animated release at No. 9.
- MET Opera: Tristan und Isolde — $772K; 709 locations; $1.48M global gross for the live cinema presentation.
- Tow — $131K; 180 screens (moderate opening).
- Selected specialty openings: Miroirs No. 3 (~$36.7K at 3 theaters), Marc by Sofia (~$46.8K at 2 NYC screens), Palestine ’36 (~$36K at Angelika), Dead Lover (~$13.5K at IFC Center), Late Shift (~$14.3K at 6 theaters), Two Prosecutors (~$13.3K at Film Forum).
For distributors and exhibitors, the headline is straightforward: a well-marketed, star-led sequel can still move large audiences in North America, particularly among South Asian communities that prioritize theatrical events. The predecessor title had been a strong performer in the region, and this follow-up appears to have built on that foundation.
The Pout-Pout Fish marked a solid family-market entry. The animated adaptation of Deborah Diesen’s picture-book series features voice performances from Nick Offerman, Amy Sedaris and others, and its broad screen count helped it reach the top 10 despite modest per-screen averages.
The weekend also highlighted the continued appetite for event cinema. The Metropolitan Opera’s new staging of Tristan und Isolde, led by soprano Lise Davidsen and tenor Michael Spyres and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin in his Met debut for the work, grossed $772,000 domestically. The cinema transmission — directed for film by Gary Halvorson and hosted by Lisette Oropesa — is being handled stateside through Fathom and brought the production to international screens as well.
Specialty and limited releases showed a patchwork of results that will matter for programmers mapping gradual expansions.
Christian Petzold’s Miroirs No. 3 opened in three New York and Los Angeles houses to a combined ~$36,700 and will roll out to Boston, Chicago, Austin and San Francisco next week, with a broader push through April. Sofia Coppola’s first documentary, Marc by Sofia, posted about $46,800 on two New York screens and is slated to expand into additional markets the following weekend.
On single-screen showings, Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine ’36 led the Angelika’s box office with roughly $36,000. Janus Films debuted Sergei Loznitsa’s political satire Two Prosecutors at Film Forum with a $13,300 weekend and is planning city rollouts and a nationwide release in the weeks ahead; Loznitsa will appear in person for Q&As at several Los Angeles venues.
The indie scene drew some unconventional attention: Dead Lover opened at New York’s IFC Center to about $13,500, buoyed by multiple sellouts and promotion around its alternate “Stink-O-Vision” scratch-and-sniff presentations — one of the first uses of that gimmick in over a decade. The film adds a Los Angeles run before expanding across the U.S. and Canada in April.
Other modest openings included Petra Volpe’s Late Shift ($14,300 at six theaters) and Roadside Attractions’ Tow, which debuted to $131,000 on 180 screens.
What these results reveal is a mixed but resilient theatrical marketplace: franchise and star-driven foreign-language titles can generate outsized weekend returns, family fare still benefits from wide release, and event programming — from opera to sensory-film stunts — continues to offer exhibitors reliable traffic. For the rest of spring, expect distributors to lean into targeted expansions and specialty programmers to capitalize on strong per-screen demand where it exists.
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Hello, I’m Declan. I share my film reviews and discoveries with you to enrich your moviegoing experience.