Industry experts expect the movie to roar ahead on the box office with as many as eight Academy Awards in its kitty. Made with a budget of USD 15 million (less than Rs 75 crore) by UK's Film4 and Celador Films with a predominantly Indian cast and crew, the movie's worldwide business has exceeded USD 163 million through yesterday, entertainment publication Variety reported on its website.
Among the movies currently running in US cinema halls, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is the fourth biggest grosser.
The Oscars were announced on Sunday night and the impact of the awards won by it is yet to be reflected in the collections.
Best Motion Picture of the year has earned about USD 98 million in the US, while about USD 65 million have come from the other markets, ‘Variety’ report said, adding that the box office observers believe it heading towards USD 200 million globally.
It is estimated to have done a business of about Rs 30 crore in India. The Delhi government declared tax-free status for the movie.
Ahead of the Oscar announcements, the movie did a business of about USD two million in the US on Sunday, which was lower than about USD four million on Saturday and about USD 2.1 million on Friday. The movie is running in theatres for more than 100 days now.
The rags-to-riches drama's Oscar kitty includes Best Motion Picture, Best Director award to Danny Boyle, Best Original Score to A R Rahman, Best Original Song Award to Rahman and Gulzar and Best Sound Mixing Award to Resul Pookutty.
