“Nolan chose India” — declared Universal Pictures as it announced Academy Award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan has picked Mumbai as one of the six cities around the world for the global promotional tour of his new adventure fantasy epic The Odyssey. When the director, producer Emma Thomas, and actors Matt Damon and Tom Holland arrived in the city, there were huge signs put up by a fan club right outside the screening venue. But those weren’t exactly in anticipatory awe of The Odyssey — they were reserved for Holland, whose much-anticipated superhero movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day was just three weeks away from release.
The Odyssey, Spider-Man dominate India’s July box office
“No mask, no Tom Holland,” read one of the signs planted by a zealous Spider-Man fan club in India. Not just that, a member dressed as the web-slinging superhero made their way to a high balcony at Taj Mahal Hotel — where the Odyssey team, including Holland — were putting up for two nights. Fans waved at Spider-Man, who happily waved back at them. Little did they know — or maybe they did, somehow prophetically — that they’re recreating the climactic scene of Brand New Day. The Spider-Man mania reached a point where even Nolan had to address it in jest during a press conference that morning — “If there’s one Tom Holland movie you watch this summer…”
“When he stood in front of us in Mumbai this July, he told the audience they were among the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable cinema audiences in the world, and that every time he comes here, it feels very special,” Denzil Dias, Vice President and Managing Director, India Theatrical, Warner Bros. Discovery, tells SCREEN. “It reflects a filmmaker who has seen how Indian audiences respond to his work and decided this market had earned a proper visit, not just a release date,” he adds.
Even Nolan knows that it’s not just him, but the culture of watching movies from around the world that India has been singularly obsessed with. The box-office performance of key Hollywood releases in the country this year is a testament to that. Spider-Man: Brand New Day scored the highest opening (Rs 250 crore+) for a Hollywood film ever in the country, just like it did in its home turf of North America this past weekend. Holland and Zendaya are clearly on a roll, as this historic milestone came only a couple of weeks after The Odyssey opened big, and has now become Nolan’s highest grossing film in India, at over Rs 150 crore.
Tom Holland film Spider-Man: Brand New Day crosses major milestone at Indian box office.
“Hollywood has undoubtedly enjoyed one of the strongest years in India, but what’s particularly interesting is that each success has been driven by a different factor,” says Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR INOX Ltd. He argues that while Spider-Man: Brand New Day “demonstrated the enduring strength of a global franchise backed by exceptional fan engagement and advance bookings”, The Odyssey proved that audiences will “actively seek out premium formats for filmmakers they deeply admire”. Nolan’s longstanding and consistent advocacy for IMAX has led the Indian moviegoers to clock in the highest grossing IMAX sales in Indian history with over Rs 50 crore and counting, surpassing those of Nolan’s previous release, Oppenheimer (2023), within just 17 days.
That figure is commendable given India boasts of only 34 IMAX cinemas, and that too not in the 1:91 ratio that Nolan intended. Since The Odyssey is the first-ever film to be completely shot on IMAX cameras, the audience felt compelled to experience it in the premium format despite mounting ticket prices (upto over Rs 3,000). “Limited-edition collectibles, IMAX film strips, and exclusive merchandise all helped reward repeat visits while widening the audience walking through the doors in the first place. None of that works unless the film gave people a genuine reason to come back, or to come in for the first time,” adds Dias.
Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon and Tom Holland stop for cutting chai before attending The Odyssey’s Mumbai premiere. (Photo: X/Universal Pictures India)
Even before The Odyssey, 2026 kicked off with Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s sci-fi adventure Project Hail Mary dominating the IMAX cinemas despite the “picture perfect” pricing of over Rs 1000 in the centrally located seats, which are considered to be ideal for consuming the format. The Ryan Gosling-starrer collected over Rs 75 crore in India. When Project Hail Mary couldn’t secure an IMAX release in India as per its original schedule owing to a clash with the homegrown phenomenon, Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge, there were fan clubs signing petitions and rallying for the film to release in the premium format for ideal viewing.
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It was also not only the summer blockbuster tentpoles that brought Hollywood glory in India. Even Curry Barker’s psychological horror film Obsession, made on a budget of less than Rs 8 crore, amassed Rs 84 crore in the country despite 38 seconds being chopped off by the Central Board of Film Certification. Unlike The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Project Hail Mary, Obsession doesn’t boast of scale or stars — it’s made by a 26-year-old YouTuber. While trade analyst Taran Adarsh attributes it to the perpetual money machine that is the horror genre, Bijli claims it “exceeded expectations through powerful word-of-mouth, growing into a genuine theatrical phenomenon”.
Can Indian cinema learn from Hollywood?
But both the exhibitor and trade experts feel the rise in the contribution of Hollywood in the India box office this year doesn’t take away from Indian cinema’s prowess. While there are homegrown blockbusters like Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge (Rs 1375 crore) and Border 2 (Rs 316 crore), Adarsh points out there have been more hits recently, from Bhooth Bangla (Rs 169 crore), Welcome to the Jungle (Rs 138 crore) to Dhamaal 4 (Rs 171 crore). “I don’t think the defining story of 2026 is Hollywood versus Indian cinema. It’s that audiences have become far more discerning about what they choose to experience in theatres,” says Bijli, adding, “The films that have succeeded are the ones that gave audiences a compelling reason to step into cinemas.”
Film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi does feel Indian cinema has lessons to take from Hollywood, which it should adapt to its market. “It’s actually the scale, technology, and budgets that global monetization ability allows Hollywood that gives them that franchise value and the ability to cultivate markets. Indian cinema, of course, given the domestic monetization size, is still at a relatively nascent stage when it comes to the kind of money spent on it,” he says, adding, “While there is a long way to go, I think we have the market and the ability to actually produce a certain quality at the fraction of the Hollywood budgets. I’m sure we’ll get there in the time to come.”
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Akshaye now has his sight set on much-anticipated Hollywood tentpoles peppered across the rest of this year, like Tom Cruise’s Digger, Dwayne Johnson’s Jumanji 4: Open World, Robert Downey Jr’s Avengers: Doomsday, and Timothee Chalamet’s Dune: Part Three. Given they’re a mix of franchises and huge leaps of risk, Bijli underlines a marketing lesson Indian cinema can look up to Hollywood for. “If there’s one lesson from Hollywood, it’s not about making different films, but about building anticipation with greater consistency,” he asserts, adding, “The most successful campaigns create a clear proposition months before release, giving audiences a compelling reason to watch a film in theatres from the very first trailer.”
