Surprise showing

CINEMA

Narnia is breathing down Harry Potter's neck at the Indian box office.

After a roaring $285-million success in America, The Chronicles of Narnia is livening life up at the Indian box office as well.

The film, released on January 26 with 99 prints, has so far mopped up Rs 5.8 crore, some Rs 2.4 crore in the first week alone, outdoing the past records of The Lord of the Rings and the first three editions of Harry Potter.

However, head to head, by first-week collections, the fourth edition of Harry Potter, The Goblet of Fire, has performed better than Narnia, grossing Rs 4.8 crore.

This may perhaps be because the latter has not had an all-India release yet; it is still to hit the large market of south India which typically accounts for half the business English films (dubbed or otherwise) do in the country. The Tamil and Telugu versions of the film are set to hit theatres on February 24.

Even before that, the film is already Bunea Vista International's biggest first-week success in India.

Says Divya Pathak, head of marketing, Sony Pictures, the film's distributor in India: "The film has got very good revenues and is the No. 1 opening for Disney in India and No. 8 for Sony Pictures."

The buzz of its international showing has also played a role in attracting audiences to theatres, she adds, pleased with the response to Sony's high-octane media blitz that coincided with the launch.