Project Hail Mary Vs Dhurandhar 2 Box Office: Ryan Gosling's Film Registers 70% Occupancy On Day 1 Against Ranveer Singh Starrer, Fans Flag 'Bollywood's Dirty Game'

While the Eid weekend box office was all about Dhurandhar: The Revenge, March 26 witnessed the release of the Hollywood space opera Project Hail Mary. The Ryan Gosling starrer is earning rave reviews and even secured the second biggest opening for a non-sequel or a non-franchise Hollywood film ever, only behind Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Going by the strong start, Project Hail Mary could emerge as one of the top Hollywood grossers this year.

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However, in India, this film is facing major screen allotment issues. Since Dhurandhar: The Revenge has secured maximum screens in all territories across India, and is offering terrific returns to exhibitors despite hiked ticket prices, its showcasing has not been reduced. Moreover, the IMAX screens, which would have ideally gone to Project Hail Mary, are now being shared with Dhurandhar 2. As per Sacnilk, only around 1,043 shows of the Hollywood movie are playing here across languages like English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Despite low screen count, Project Hail Mary managed 80% occupancy for the morning shows.

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The theatre occupancy for the movie's English version stood at nearly 70% on its opening day. Day 1 collections are expected to cross the ₹2 crore mark, but the biz has been affected severely as there are very less shows of the movie playing.

Some fans who were wiling to watch Project Hail Mary and were unable to due to its restricted run, called out the makers of Dhurandhar 2 online for their "dirty games" of unequal screen sharing. Some even shared that their advance tickets for Project Hail Mary were cancelled as the theatres didn't play the movie and instead continued with Dhurandhar 2 screenings.

With Dhurandhar 2 going all guns blazing at the box office, it remains to be seen if Project Hail Mary can actually compete with it in India or not.