Hollywood scored high with fantasies, action in India (2010 in Retrospect)

NEW DELHI - Fantasy, fantasy and more fantasy - Indian audiences swooned to the Hollywood mojo in 2010 thanks to their penchant for out-of-the-world experiences with a dash of action.

IANS lists top imports that grossed their way to success in 2010:

1. “Inception”: Mindbender - one word that aptly describes the sci-fi entertainer that took the world by storm and why not when it comes from a mind that is equally complex yet brilliant - Christopher Nolan. Watch it once, twice, thrice before you shake your head in frenzy and succumb to the masterpiece. With Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead, it raked in Rs.33 crore in India across four languages - English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

2. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I”: The penultimate sequel to one of the most successful wizard franchises the world has seen. With an established fan base that is outnumbered with every new sequel, this one was sure to draw footfall. Released across English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, it grossed Rs.30 crore (about $6.6 million).

3. “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”: Remember the after-school timepass video game of the same name? Well, this big screen retelling brought out the sword-and-sorcery action from the blurry computer screen in live action to make Rs.28 crore. While Jake Gyllenhaal took centrestage as Prince Dastan, Gemma Arterton enacted the lovely Princess Tamina and the very own Sir Ben Kingsley donned the evil Nizam’s robe to conquer time.

4. “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader”: It was another epic 3D fantasy-adventure that had kids transported to their bed-time story world. Hitting the Indian screens in four languages a week before its worldwide release, it didn’t take time to make Rs.23 crore and is still running.

5. “Clash of the Titans”: You saw him as an “Avatar” before he became a part-human part-android Marcus Wright in “Terminator Salvation.” And this one just required you to wear a pair of 3D glasses to see Sam Worthington as a demi-god. A remake of the 1981 film of the same name, the Greek fantasy-adventure cashed in Rs.22 crore.

6. “Salt”: Confess it, you will watch whatever she does and this one had to be seen as Angelina The Jolie was going to jump flyovers and assassinate political bigwigs in her secret mission as a blonde Russian sleeper agent Evelyn Salt in the US. A female spin to the “Mission: Impossible” series, it did make one fall in love with the beauty again. For the collections, how does it matter even if it made Rs.16.5 crore?

7. “Knight and Day”: Tom Cruise just won’t stop playing a spy. No. Even if it means drifting to an outing with the now rapidly aging Cameron Diaz before buckling up for his fourth “Mission: Impossible” movie. Having released in English and Hindi, the action-adenture earned Rs.16 crore only because of its ‘associative’ value - after all it was a Bollywood film with Hollywood stars!

8. “Iron Man 2″: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and the comeback kid Mickey Rourke. Man, what else does one need in a metal clanking superhero flick? The answer is Scarlett Johansson as an undercover spy in body hugging leather suit! Not quite living up to its buzz, the movie managed Rs.15.5 crore leaving audiences wanting for much and for more.

9. “The Karate Kid”: Star sons don’t work in Bollywood alone. They do in Hollywood too and how! If his father Will Smith has been voted as the most dependable star, the son in his lanky meek form is no less. Cute as per his 12-year-old looks, intelligent and lethal courtesy a trainer like Jackie Chan and with acting chromosomes overlapped across his DNA, Jaden Smith did what veterans could not - command an ovation. A reboot of the 1984 film by the same name, don’t go by the earnings of this one which was a modest Rs.13.5 crore. Go by the name!

10. “Resident Evil: Afterlife”/”The A-Team”: Breaking into a tie with Rs.11.5 Crore each, the two didn’t lag behind in making a mark in the Indian terrain. “Afterlife”, the fourth part in the sci-fi action series, saw Milla Jovovich in a mission to save humanity from a virus with her numerous clones while “The A-Team”, an action outing, was simply a boy’s delight with cigars, guns and panache.

(Robin Bansal can be contacted at robin.b@ians.in)