‘Kantara Chapter 1’ Crosses $80 Million In Two Weeks

A still from the box office hit Indian film ‘Kantara Chapter 1’.

Hombale Films

The new Indian blockbuster Kantara Chapter 1 has crossed the $80 million-mark at the global box office in two weeks since it first hit theatres on October 2. According to Comscore data, the Kannada mythological drama closed its second weekend at $69.3 million and ranked as the eighth top-grossing film worldwide for the weekend ending October 12. The Indian film completed fifteen days at the global ticket windows on October 15, and has collected $81.5 million worldwide, producers Hombale Films announced.

Kantara Chapter 1 among Global top scorers for second consecutive week

Rishab Shetty’s Kantara Chapter 1 scored big at the global box office to rank among world’s top-grossing films for the second week in a row. Comscore ranked the Indian film at eighth slot, with a worldwide collection of $7.09 million in its second weekend alone.

In its debut week, Kantara Chapter 1 was the third highest-grossing film at the global box office. The craze around the film can be credited t director Rishab Shetty’s previous film, Kantara, which proved to be a surprise hit in 2022 among critics as well as audiences. The success of Kantara broke all language barriers. A similar phenomenon can now be witnessed for Kantara Chapter 1, the prequel to the 2022 film.

Kantara Chapter 1: Box office

Shetty’s film made a grand opening collection of nearly $10 million at the global box office on October 2. It closed its first weekend as third highest-grossing film worldwide with a global score of $35.7 million. Directed by Rishab Shetty, the film also became the sixth top-grossing Indian film of the year 2025 in its opening weekend. In the US markets, the film earned $804,000 in its second weekend. It has crossed $4 million-mark

After the impressive opening weekend, Kantara Chapter 1 collections dipped to almost half over the weekdays. The daily score, nonetheless, remained decent and the film closed its first week above $50 million worldwide. Producers Hombale Films shared that the Kannada movie collected $57.4 million across the globe in its first week. The horror-drama picked pace over its second weekend. Kantara Chapter 1 roughly made daily collections of $4- $5 million over its second weekend in India.

With more than $80 million worldwide collections, Kantara Chapter 1 climbed the IMDb’s list of top-grossing Indian films for the year 2025. The Kannada film is now second on the list, with Vicky Kaushal’s historical saga Chhaava maintaining the top slot.

Kantara

Rishab Shetty has written and directed Kantara Chapter 1. The film is an epic drama that focusses on the decades’ old battle of nature versus human and is woven around tribal practices from the southern regions of India. It is a prequel to Shetty’s Kantara (2022) and both the films highlight the ‘Bhoota Kola’ tradition in India.

Director Shetty also essays the lead role in both films. Anirudh Mahesh and Shanil Guru co-wrote Kantara Chapter 1 with Shetty. Rukmini Vasanth and Jayaram play the roles of the rulers of the kingdom adjacent to the forest region of Kantara. Bollywood actor Gulshan Devaiah also plays a prince from the same kingdom. Shetty, along with Sapthami Gowda and Achyuth Kumar, featured in the 2022 film which proved to be a surprise box office hit.

Critics have widely appreciated the acting and the visual representation of the chosen themes in the film. With the story offering ample scope, Shetty. Vasanth and Devaiah have displayed exceptional acting prowess in Kantara Chapter 1. The climax scenes and all the scenes involving the mythological transformations are scary as well enigmatic. The grandeur and charisma of the Kantara world gets much bigger with Kantara Chapter 1.