Ramayana Part 1: India Booking Deadlock Ends as Overseas Advance Sales Cross $2.85 Million

Ramayana: Part One has cleared its biggest pre-release hurdle. After nearly ten days of restricted bookings in India, the deadlock delaying the film’s domestic rollout has reportedly ended, with bookings opening where distribution terms have been finalised and the remaining theatres expected to follow by Friday evening. The breakthrough comes days before the film’s November 5 release, alongside roaring overseas advance sales.

As of Thursday, the Nitesh Tiwari epic starring Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana has raked in USD 2.85 million (approximately Rs 27 crore) in international markets for its opening weekend, trade estimates say. Around half of that total came from opening day alone, including USD 875,000 from Wednesday previews in North America. The United States leads with USD 1.8 million, followed by Canada at USD 350,000, Australia at USD 260,000, the United Kingdom at USD 165,000 and Germany at USD 110,000. The film is yet to go on sale in the Middle East, a major overseas market for Indian cinema.

The comparisons underline the scale of the advance. Ramayana trails Dhurandhar: The Revenge by around 25 per cent in overseas pre-sales, but stands almost 80 per cent higher than Jawan when the Middle East is excluded. Trade watchers believe the film is poised for a USD 20 million-plus overseas opening weekend, potentially USD 25 million once the Middle East opens.

The dispute was never about whether the film would release, but about how the first weeks of box office would be divided. Distributors had reportedly put two options on the table: a three-week slab giving the distributor 60 per cent in week one, 50 per cent in week two and 40 per cent in week three, or a flat 55 per cent for the first 11 consecutive days before falling back to standard slabs. With the logjam broken, the domestic advance — already 1.33 lakh tickets in national chains for day one, per Pinkvilla — should now accelerate sharply.

Here is the Filmverse take: the overseas numbers matter beyond bragging rights. They show Ramayana’s appeal travelling past the diaspora’s usual corridors, with Sony’s wider push carrying it into non-traditional markets. The real test is the next 48 hours in India: family audiences tend to book closer to release, and premium formats are already selling well. If the domestic advance matches the overseas momentum, Ramayana could open to one of the biggest Indian weekends ever. Read our report from the film’s Los Angeles premiere here: https://filmverse.in/sai-pallavi-ravana-remark-ramayana-la-premiere-debate/

Sources: Pinkvilla, Sacnilk — all box-office figures are trade estimates