Even though no new Bollywood movies released in North America during the weekend of March 9-11, 2018, there’s still plenty to write about. Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety went gangbusters in its third weekend of release with earnings of $124,250 from 45 theaters ($2,761 average). Its business fell just 16% from its second weekend to its third, which is remarkable considering the 2nd-3rd weekend drops for other Bollywood releases this year: Padmaavat (-56%); Pad Man (-70%); Welcome to New York (-81%); Aiyaary (-86%); Mukkabaaz (-99%). Great word of mouth — including a 7.8 user rating at IMDb and an 84% “liked it” score at Rotten Tomatoes — continued to drive audiences to the theater for SKTKS, which has current total earnings of $781,009.

Pari likewise held up really well in its second weekend of release, dropping just 46% of its opening weekend business (second best for the year behind SKTKS‘s 38% drop). It earned $64,247 from 37 theaters ($1,736 average), bringing its total to $281,324 so far. I wish more theaters had taken a chance on this horror flick (and I suspect they do, too).

Even in its seventh weekend of release, Padmaavat was still the third highest earning Hindi film in North America, taking in $49,494 from 26 theaters ($1,904 average). It finally crossed the $12 million mark, with total earnings of $12,093,933.

Welcome to New York was vastly more popular in Canada than the United States, with three Canadian theaters earning $4,245 compared to $911 from three US theaters. Contributions to its $220,383 North American total are almost evenly divided between the two countries, with Canada taking a slight edge despite the standard US-heavy screen disparity.

Other Bollywood movies showing in US theaters:

• Pad Man: Week 5; $4,409 from seven theaters; $630 average; $1,664,077 total
• Aiyaary: Week 4; $2,205 from four theaters; $551 average; $641,064 total

Source: Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama