Indian Summer At The Spring Box Office

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion breaks records in the U.S. powered by social media and a burgeoning population

- Pamela Mcclintock And Nyay Bhushan

The stunning box-office success of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion — a sequel to a mythical tale about warring royal cousins in an ancient kingdom that opened April 28 in the U.S. and already is the top-grossing Indian movie import of all time with $17.2 million — was fueled by two factors: the boom in the Indian-American population and their disproportionately high use of social media.

“The social media power of the Indian diaspora is incredibly strong,” says Imax Entertainment CEO Greg Foster, whose chain played Baahubali on 40 screens in North America. “Did you see one traditional commercial for this movie? No. [But] everyone who needed to know about it did.”