After global success, Dhurandhar: The Revenge falters at the Japanese box office

After a record-breaking global run that turned it into one of the biggest Hindi film franchises in history, Dhurandhar: The Revenge — released overseas as Dhurandhar Sakusen — hit a wall on its Japanese debut this past weekend, failing to crack the country’s top 25 box office rankings on opening day.

The spy thriller failed to enter Japan's top 25 despite a record-breaking global run

The Aditya Dhar-directed spy thriller opened in Japanese theatres on July 10, spreading across roughly 80 locations nationwide. Early numbers looked encouraging: tracking data showed the film pulling in 449 admissions by 2 pm across 57 venues. But by evening, total footfalls had slipped below 900, according to box office tracker Mimorin.

The shortfall also cost Dhurandhar a spot among the ten biggest opening days ever posted by an Indian film in Japan. To edge out Tiger 3, which currently holds the No. 10 position, the film needed at least 1,300 admissions on day one.

Japan has proven to be an unpredictable market for Indian blockbusters. RRR remains the gold standard, having pulled in a staggering 8,230 opening-day admissions, with Saaho (6,510) and Kalki 2898 AD (3,700) rounding out a distant second and third. Films like Pathaan (2,220), Salaar (2,200), and Jawan (1,960) also cleared four figures on their opening days.

Dhurandhar’s numbers were closer to the underwhelming Japanese debut of Pushpa 2 earlier this year, which similarly missed the top ten despite arriving with substantial pre-release buzz.

Industry observers point to a thin marketing push as a likely culprit. Unlike its rollout in North America, Canada, and Australia, the Japan release appears to have gone in with minimal local promotion and questionable timing in terms of the release window. Ranveer Singh did release a message directed at Japanese audiences ahead of the debut, but it wasn’t enough to translate into opening-day turnout.

Dhurandhar 2 alone had already crossed INR 1,800 crore in worldwide gross collections heading into its Japan release, and the two films combined have grossed over INR 3,100 crore globally — making Aditya Dhar the highest-grossing director in Hindi cinema history, ahead of veterans like Rohit Shetty.

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