Patriot box office Day 3: Rs 63 crore global haul despite India slowdown

Patriot opened well on Friday but lost pace in India over the weekend as overseas markets stayed strong. Its Rs 63.61 crore worldwide start was driven largely by diaspora turnout, pushing the film past Rs 50 crore in three days.

In Short

• Patriot completed its opening weekend on a decent note overseas
• The film's Saturday collections fell to Rs 6.15 crore before Sunday dropped further
• The Mammootty and Mohanlal film is performing better overseas than in India

Patriot, starring Mohanlal and Mammootty, recorded a mixed opening weekend, with its India run losing pace after a strong start even as overseas markets drove its global total higher. In three days, the film earned Rs 38.50 crore gross overseas, which was higher than its total India gross of Rs 25.11 crore for the weekend, and took its opening weekend worldwide gross to Rs 63.61 crore.

In India, the film opened at Rs 10.00 crore nett on Friday with a 66.0 per cent occupancy rate, but the momentum did not continue through the weekend. Collections fell to Rs 6.15 crore on Saturday and then to Rs 5.50 crore on Sunday, a 10.6 per cent drop from the previous day.

Even with the drop, Patriot's first-weekend India nett of nearly Rs 22 crore placed it among the top 3 biggest opening weekends for Mollywood this year, behind L2: Empuraan - Rs 35 crore and Thudarum - Rs 24 crore, and ahead of Vaazha 2: Biopic of a Billion Bros - Rs 21 crore and Aadu 3 - Rs 21 crore.

While the domestic trend weakened, the film performed strongly overseas. It collected Rs 38.50 crore gross from international markets in three days. Despite relatively underwhelming promotion, the film delivered a strong overseas opening on the back of star power, with both Mollywood heroes drawing turnout from diaspora audiences.

A report in the trade website Sacnilk mentioned that North America emerged as a key market. The film posted a combined premiere and Day 1 gross of $177K there, which made it the third-biggest opening day for a Malayalam film in the region. Its total for the weekend from North America reached $334K.

When combined with Rs 21.65 crore nett from India, the overseas performance took Patriot to a worldwide gross of Rs 63.61 crore for its opening weekend.

The film also crossed the Rs 50 crore worldwide gross mark in just three days, placing it among the fastest Mollywood films to reach that number. L2: Empuraan achieved the figure on Day 1, Thudarum on Day 3, Aadujeevitham - The Goat Life on Day 4, and Lokah: Chapter 1 on Day 4.

The film is directed by Mahesh Narayanan. Patriot also features Fahadh Faasil, Kunchacko Boban, Nayanthara, Revathi, Darshana Rajendran and Rajiv Menon in key roles.

- Ends