Kalki 2898 ADhas become a global Netflix hit. The Telugu-language sci-fi epic, which stars Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, and Prabhas, made waves during its production when it becamethe most expensive movie ever produced in Indiawith a reported budget of ₹600 crore, or roughly $72 million USD. TheKalki 2898 ADbox officelived up to the promise of its enormous price tag, earning between ₹1,041.65 and ₹1,100 crore, which made it the fifth highest-grossing Indian movie of all time and the third highest-grossing Telugu movie.
Netflixhas now calculated their global Top 10 list of the most watched non-English movies for the week of August 19 through August 25 on the platform.Kalki 2898 ADhas landed on the chart at No. 2 in its debut weekwith 4.5 million viewers accumulating a total of 13.1 million viewing hours. It fell behind the Spanish-language effortI Can’t Live Without You, which had a shorter run time and thus had only 8.1 million viewing hours but nevertheless had a total of 5 million viewers in its second week on the chart.
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The Stage Is Set For The Kalki Cinematic Universe To Become A Huge International Franchise
This streaming success forKalki 2898 ADcoming hot on the heels of its box office success isgood news for the longevity of the franchise. The movie already comes at a time that Indian releases are finding more of a foothold in the global box office, with titles like Shah Rukh Khan’sJawanandPathaanalso breaking records, but the 2024 title has become the biggest hit since the one-two punch of2022’sRRRandKGF: Chapter 2, which came out within one month of each other and are the No. 3 and No. 4 highest-grossing Indian movies respectively.
India’s No. 2 highest-grossing movie is 2017’sBaahubali 2: The Conclusionwhile the No. 1 movie is 2016’sDangal.
The fact thatKalki 2898 ADhas so far outperformed every other movie since the release ofKGF: Chapter 2speaks to the viability of the burgeoning Kalki Cinematic Universe.The franchise has already built a foundationwith the two-part prequel miniseriesBujji and Bhairava, which premiered on Prime Video in May and became India’s most-watched Telugu show, but a sequel titledKalki 2898 AD: Part 2is also in the works, with more than half of principal photography already completed.
Considering the huge budget ofKalki 2898 AD, this kind of consistent and immediate success in theaters and streaming is likely necessarily in order for the franchise to build up steam and continue into future installments. However, theIndian action moviedoes not seem to be facing any major commercial hurdles so far. It remains to be seen how the sequel, which will likely not hit theaters for several years, performs, but for the time being the future of the property seems bright.
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₹1,100 crore
Kalki 2898 AD
Cast
Kalki 2898 AD is a sci-fi epic by director Nag Ashwin and roots itself in Hindu mythology. The ultimate battle begins when Vishnu’s final incarnation is brought back to earth as Kalki and will now fight to end the dark ages in a dystopian future.
