So Dhurandhar,the Ranveer Singh action franchise that basically dominated Indian box office,has now run into some real trouble in Japan . And honestly,the numbers coming out are pretty difficult to ignore.
The film premiered across nearly 80 screens in Japan on July 10,2026 . For a franchise that has collectively crossed ₹3,100 crore worldwide,that is not a small screen count . But what happened next was unexpected.
By 2:00 PM on Friday itself,only 449 admissions were recorded . Total first day footfall stalled at mere 900 viewers across all 80 locations . That is genuinely low for any wide release,let alone one from franchise of this scale.
And this is where things get uncomfortable for Indian film industry.
To even enter top 10 Indian openers in Japan,Dhurandhar needed to cross 1,300 admissions . It could not do that . According to early trade reports,film failed to secure spot in even top 25 rankings over its first weekend . Salman Khan's Tiger 3 benchmark was not beaten . Neither was any realistic chance of touching RRR's record of 8,230 admissions,which still holds top spot for Indian openers in Japan.
Few things standing out clearly from this situation:
- RRR remains gold standard for Indian openers in Japan with 8,230 admissions and Dhurandhar could not come anywhere close.
- Film needed 1,300 admissions to beat Tiger 3 for top 10 spot but first day total stalled at only 900 viewers.
- Despite worldwide franchise collection crossing ₹3,100 crore,Japanese market proved completely unresponsive even with aggressive promotional campaign .
Now to be fair,Dhurandhar as franchise has been genuinely massive back home . First film collected ₹1,307 crore in December 2025 . Second installment,Dhurandhar: Revenge,stands as second highest-grossing Indian film ever with ₹1,813 crore worldwide,trailing only Aamir Khan's Dangal . Director Aditya Dhar has built something really significant with this series alongside ensemble cast of Sanjay Dutt,Akshaye Khanna and Arjun Rampal . Produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios,commercial success domestically is completely undisputed.
But Japan is different story entirely.
Aditya Dhar has stated that team remains proud of work despite slow start in Japan . That is fair response and probably right attitude to have publicly . But industry analysts watching cross-cultural performance of Indian films will find this case quite interesting to study.
Japanese audiences have their own very specific tastes when it comes to foreign cinema . RRR connected there because of certain emotional and visual storytelling elements that seemed to transcend language and culture . Not every Indian blockbuster manages to replicate that connection,no matter how aggressive promotional push is or how many screens are locked in.
Honestly,this situation raises one question that nobody in Indian film industry has fully answered yet… what exactly makes Indian cinema work in Japan,and can that formula ever be intentionally replicated or does it just happen on its own…
