(This article has been corrected.)
PK, the Bollywood comedy-drama starring Aamir Khan as a stranded alien, looks headed to go where no Indian film has gone before—the $100 million mark.
Amidst violent protests, heated television debates, a handful of lawsuits, and a string of other controversies, the film that satires religion and its paraphernalia in India has already raked up more than $89.8 million (as of Jan. 4) in global box office earnings since its release on Dec. 19.
In the US alone, PK has made $9.9 million, according to movie and TV viewership tracker Rentrak, with another $79.9 million coming from other markets worldwide.
With its current earnings, PK already is the most commercially successful film to come out of India. Dhoom 3, a 2013 film also starring 49-year-old Khan, made about $86 million at the box office.
Box office busters
PK also caps an emerging trend in big-studio, big-name Bollywood films.
Bollywood’s Rs 100 crore ($16 million) mark, once a mythical barrier that commercial filmmakers vied to breach, has been reached by an increasing number of films, which have gone on to make even larger sums of money.
The pink bubbles (not including PK) represent the number of days taken to earn the Rs100 crore at the box office. More films have reached the mark more quickly in recent years.
And a greater number of Rs1oo crore-grossing films (blue bubbles, also not including PK) have gone above and beyond that amount.
But PK has outdone them all with almost $90 million in the bag—and still counting.
Correction: An earlier version of this post reported that $9.9 million in box-office receipts came from India. That is the figure for US receipts.