2009′s Top Hollywood Hits in India

James Cameron’s Avatar took in almost Rs seven crores (approximately $1.5 million) on its opening day in India and theatres have run at almost 100 percent over the weekend. So this could easily be one of the top grossing 2009/2010 Hollywood films to be released in India. At the moment the honors go to these ten movies according to Rediff:

• With a global gross of over $800 million, the sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen drew people into theatres in droves, be it for vehicles turning into robots or the equally artificial looking Megan Fox.
• Disaster movies always make a killing overseas, and Columbia’s 2012 was no different as things went boom, bang, splash all across the world.

  Jimi Mistry played the token Indian scientist, not that he drove the domestic box office sales up.

• Besides Avatar, Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince is the year’s other big hit — and the eight biggest hit in movie history — having raked in $929 million across the world. Not that it comes as a massive surprise.

  The film did wonderfully in India, but then you’d be hardpressed to find a country where the tremendously hyped adaptations of J K Rowling’s books don’t work.

• From one bestseller to another. Dan Brown is an author who seems to mesmerise audiences by the legion, and Angels and Demons, the Ron Howard adaptation of the sequel to The Da Vinci Code made $485 million worldwide.

  Much controversy was created by churches everywhere, but none of that hurt the film’s box office.

• The surprise hit of the year was The Hangover, a movie about three grown men stumbling drunkenly around Las Vegas, over one wild night.

  The small film ended up netting Warner Bros $459 million worldwide, and did massively well in Indian multiplexes, especially in Delhi and Mumbai.

• Twilight, the vampire love story is a year old, but it was only after its sequel New Moon was breaking box office records in the US that the first part finally hit Indian theatres.

  The film’s doing well, thanks to its already-hit status. New Moon did very well in India too, making a bigger profit than the other Friday release in the same week, Rocket Singh Salesman Of The Year.

• Star Trek is the year’s best-reviewed franchise film, and Lost creator J J Abrams has made a career out of wowing audiences and emptying their wallets.

  The film did enormously well around the world, and the nostalgia-aided reception across Indian cities was overwhelming.

• It’s a bit of a surprise to see a director like Quentin Tarantino feature on a biggest hits list, but the auteur did his bit by pasting Brad Pitt right across his poster and promising a gloriously gory war film.

  The film Inglourious Basterds defies all expectations — and Brad’s role is really small — but so does its box office take.

• Pixar wins. It’s a rule that Pixar sweeps away all competition and picks up megabucks at the global box office, this latest — and fantastically reviewed — effort netting them over $500 million worldwide.

  The film Up, about an old man and a young boy, might well be an Oscar nominee for Best Picture.

• Isn’t it all about the squirrels? Fox’s unbelievably successful Ice Age franchise grows with each sequel, and this third installment, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs netted them a whopping $878 million.

  They might as well spend a billion and make the next part a live-action version.

Reported by: Raja Sen in Mumbai
Source: Rediff

Other websites have listed these movies among their top ten money makers in India:

• Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” starring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in the lead with music by A.R. Rahman
• McG’s “Terminator Salvation” starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington
• Gavin Hood’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” starring Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber
• Justin Lin’s “Fast and Furious” starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster