Box Office: Ajith Kumar's Valimai beats Master to record the biggest non-holiday opening day in Tamil Nadu
Valimai had an excellent start at the Tamil Nadu box office as it recorded the biggest first-day box office collections for Ajith Kumar. Released at around 565 locations across Tamil Nadu, the film grossed an est. Rs. 27-28 crores approx on Thursday. The film’s opening day in the state is the best ever for a non-holiday release while the second biggest overall behind Sarkar.
The initial numbers coming from territories like Salem, NSA, MR, etc. suggested a number around Rs. 25-25.50 crores but the two biggest circuits of Tamil Nadu, Chengalpat and Coimbatore, are reporting numbers closer to all-time record, which puts the overall numbers over Rs. 27 crores. Depending on where the actuals in these two land, the opening day could very well be Rs. 28 crores even, comfortably above Master (Rs. 25.26 crores). The actual numbers and top ten Tamil Nadu opening days will be posted later in the day.
The territory numbers for Valimai opening day with comparison to Master are as follows:
North-South Arcot
Valimai - Rs. 3.30 crores
Master - Rs. 4.03 crores
Madurai - Ramanathapuram
Valimai - Rs. 3.20 crores
Master - Rs. 3.23 crores
Trichy-Tanjore
Valimai - Rs. 2.40 crores
Master - Rs. 2.14 crores
Salem
Valimai - Rs. 2.30 crores
Master - Rs. 2.29 crores
Tirunelveli - Kanyakumari
Valimai - Rs. 1.60 crores
Master - Rs. 1.87 crores
Generally, the year starts on a high for the South Indian film industry, with a highly lucrative Pongal/Sankranti season in January. This year was a rather sombre affair as the festive slate was washed out by the Omicron threat and the films that were released failed badly. To put things in perspective, in the first two months of the year, there have been 18 releases from Kollywood. In Tamil Nadu, Valimai has grossed more on its opening day than all those 18 did in their full run combined.
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