India's most expensive movie of all time Kalki 2898 AD has broken a major box office record. Kalki 2898 AD, which was made for a record-setting $75 million, generated the highest-grossing opening weekend worldwide in the history of Indian cinema. The film was able to accumulate ₹555 crore after being released for only four days, which is equivalent to roughly $66 million USD. The box office success of Kalki 2898 AD means that it is well on pace to break even and should continue its encouraging box office success to become one of the highest-grossing movies of 2024.

For the sake of comparison, Inside Out 2, which is currently the highest-grossing film of the year with a current worldwide total of $1.1 billion, opened with an astounding $154.2 million opening weekend domestically. Inside Out 2, however, is record-breaking in its own right and is a top contender to become the highest-grossing movie of the year. Dune: Part Two, which is the second highest-grossing movie of the year with a worldwide total of $711 million, had an opening weekend of $82.5 million domestically. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the third highest-grossing film of 2024 thus far, opened with $80 million domestically.

Kalki 2898 AD is an Indian Telugu-language epic science fiction action film written and directed by Nag Ashwin. It was released worldwide on June 27, 2024 in standard, IMAX, 3D and 4DX formats and is currently playing in several countries including the United States. The plot of Kalki 2898 AD is inspired by Hindu scriptures and is set in a post-apocalyptic world in the year 2898 AD. The celebrated film stars Indian actor Prabhas as Bhairava, a modern-day avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone, and Disha Patani.

Kalki 2898 AD has an impressive Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 81% and an even better audience score of 93%. Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com writes in his review of the film, "Goofy, over-earnest, and just good enough where it counts, “Kalki 2898 AD” outdistances its competition simply by digging deeper than expected into its patchy lore’s rich melodramatic turf." Leslie Felperin of The Guardian also writes, "It’s all a lot, as they say, but those with a taste for maximalism will swoon over the goods on offer here." With a lengthy runtime of two hours and 45 minutes, Kalki 2898 AD certainly makes good use of it.

Kalki 2898 AD took inspiration from Star Wars, Blade Runner, and Mad Max

Considering the huge opening weekend for Kalki 2898 AD , it should easily surpass the worldwide total of RRR.

Kalki 2898 AD was made for $75 million which makes it the most expensive movie ever made in India. The 2022 celebrated Indian blockbuster RRR was the most expensive Indian movie ever made with a budget of roughly $69 million before Kalki 2898 AD was made. RRR, which is currently available to stream on Netflix, became one of the most celebrated movies to ever come out of India, earning a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95% and $150 million worldwide after an opening weekend total of just $9.5 million domestically. Considering the huge opening weekend for Kalki 2898 AD, it should easily surpass the worldwide total of RRR.

Kalki 2898 AD was given a production budget of $75 million to satisfy its needs for heavy use of CGI and visual effects to appeal to a wide audience. The film took inspiration from other massive adventure and sci-fi franchise movies that came before it, such as Star Wars, Blade Runner, and Mad Max, all of which were expensive movies to pull off. Each was also a revolutionary installment of filmmaking and established massive franchises and sequels that are still being produced to this day. It seems that Kalki 2898 AD may have inspired a new modern franchise based on its early box office success.

Its lead actor and director are both celebrated

Prabhas is one of the highest-paid and highest-grossing actors in the history of Indian cinema.

Prabhas is one of the highest-paid and highest-grossing actors in the history of Indian cinema, which is one of the reasons why Kalki 2898 AD has become such a massive record-breaking box office success. The film has also benefitted from positive reviews, a wide international release, and relatively low competition at the box office, particularly in India. Writer/director Nag Ashwin is also celebrated for his previous works such as Mahanati (2018) and B & B: Bujji and Bhairava (2024). Ultimately, Kalki 2898 AD focuses on real-world issues and religious myths while also providing lots of entertainment value.