Mohanlal’s long-awaited crime thriller Drishyam 3 has roared into cinemas with one of the biggest opening days in Malayalam film history. Released on May 21, 2026 — a date that also marked Mohanlal’s 66th birthday — the Jeethu Joseph directorial delivered a thunderous start at the global box office, riding on massive fan fervour, record advance bookings, and the enduring pull of the Georgekutty franchise.
The numbers confirm what the pre-sales had already signalled: the return of Georgekutty was never going to be a quiet one.
A historic opening day at the domestic box office
According to trade tracker Sacnilk, Drishyam 3 collected a net of Rs 15.85 crore in India on day one, spread across 5,506 shows. The Malayalam version led the charge by a considerable margin, with the language recording an overall occupancy of 66.79% across 3,503 shows, contributing Rs 13.70 crore to the India net total.
Telugu came in second at Rs 1.50 crore, followed by Tamil at Rs 0.45 crore and Kannada at Rs 0.20 crore, as per Sacnilk. Among cities, Kochi led with a stunning 95.5% occupancy across 242 shows, followed closely by Kottayam at 93.3% and Kozhikode at 90.5%, indicating near-total sellouts across Kerala’s key circuits. On the gross side, India’s total collections stood at Rs 18.37 crore, with Kerala alone contributing Rs 11 crore, per Sacnilk’s state-wise breakdown.
Worldwide figures rewrite Mollywood record books
The real story of Drishyam 3’s opening, however, was written overseas. According to Sacnilk, the film grossed Rs 25 crore overseas, pushing its total worldwide gross on day one to approximately Rs 43.37 crore.
This performance, as per Sacnilk’s all-time records, makes Drishyam 3 the second-biggest opening ever for a Malayalam film, behind only Mohanlal’s own L2: Empuraan, which had earned Rs 67 crore worldwide on its first day in 2025.
The film also surpassed Patriot, which had debuted with Rs 28.3 crore worldwide, and Thudarum, which had opened with just over Rs 10 crore worldwide, reports India.com.
The Gulf region, North America, the UK, and Australia were standout contributors to the overseas tally, revealing the franchise’s deep global impact.
Much of this momentum was built before release — Sacnilk had reported that the film’s final advance booking for opening day crossed Rs 35 crore gross worldwide, with a 50-crore debut firmly in sight at that point.
The film, which features Mohanlal alongside Meenakshi, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Siddique, and Asha Sharath, now heads into its first weekend with significant momentum, even as word-of-mouth remains mixed in certain quarters.