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Box Office : Waltair Veerayya starts bumper for Chiranjeevi at 30 cr; Veera Simha Reddy hits 40 cr in 2 days
Chiranjeevi starrer has shown a better hold than the Nandimuri Balakrishna starrer and will likely emerge as the Sankranthi winner.
The box office down south is on a rampage this Pongal/Sankranthi season with many big tentpole releases. The state of Tamil Nadu is having a tight competition with the state's two biggest stars in terms of initial pull, Thalapathy Vijay and Ajith Kumar, competing to emerge as the Pongal winner. Going a little north, we have two senior actors, Chiranjeevi and Nandamuri Balakrishna, battling it out for the prestigious Sankranthi takings in the Andhra states. To start off, both Telugu films, Veera Simha Reddy and Waltair Veerayya are off to a flier. Both the actors have their film recording a greater gross than their last release and this is very encouraging to say the least.
Veera Simha Reddy got a clear box office day and was able to score well. On the other hand, Waltair Veerayya had to share some screens and so the collections are slightly lesser than Veera Simha Reddy on the first day. The scenario is quite similar to the 2020 box office clash between Sarileru Neekevvaru and Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo where Sarileru Neekevvaru had a greater day 1 lead but had Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo cross it in its eventual run. Unlike these two films, Waltair Veerayya, owing to good public talk, is expected to start leading Veera Simha Reddy from its very third day. In the international centres, Waltair Veerayya has already taken the lead despite releasing a day later. With a long Sankranthi season, we can expect both films to hold better than they would have, had they not targetted a Sankranthi release.
Talking about the box office numbers, Veera Simha Reddy, on its first day, collected Rs. 32.5 cr gross in India, proving to be the actor's biggest opener by a good margin, the previous best being the last year's Tollywood blockbuster, Akhanda. From the Rs. 32.5 cr, Rs 30 cr came from AP/TS which is a superb number. The film however saw a huge drop on day 2 since it had to share screens with the Chiranjeevi starrer and also the word of mouth was on the mixed side. Regardless, fetching these numbers in the same Sankranthi as a Megastar Chiranjeevi film is a big deal and a lot of it has got to do with Nandamuri Balakrishna's last film Akhanda, which brought him trust and goodwill in heaps. The two day all India total stands at a shy less than Rs. 41 cr gross and with the start of the festive days, we can expect the film to slowly creep its way to the breakeven number.
The territorial breakdown for the box office collections of Veera Simha Reddy in India is as follows:
Nizam - Rs. 11.25 crores (Rs. 6.90 crores share)
Ceeded - Rs. 8.25 crores (Rs. 6.10 crores share)
Andhra - Rs. 18 crores (Rs. 14.50 crores share)
AP/TS - Rs. 37.50 crores (Rs. 27.50 crores share)
Karnataka - Rs. 2.80 crores (Rs. 1.50 crore share)
Rest of India - Rs. 60 lakhs (Rs. 25 lakhs share)
India - Rs. 40.90 crores (Rs. 29.25 crores share)
Chiranjeevi's film Waltair Veerayya took a bumper start given that it had to share screens with Veera Simha Reddy. It took a bigger opening than Chiranjeevi's last release, Godfather, and matched Veera Simha Reddy in all centres except Ceeded, where it fell a little short. The day one gross AP/TS collections stand at Rs. 28 cr while the all India number is a little over Rs 30 cr. Owing to favourable reviews, the Chiranjeevi starrer has held strong on its second day and it should cross Veera Simha Reddy everywhere by tomorrow to emerge as the Sankranthi winner in terms of gross collections. Chiranjeevi's last couple of films failed to put on a show theatrically and this film will very well change the tides.
The territorial breakdown for the box office collections of Waltair Veerayya in India is as follows:
Nizam - Rs. 9 crores (Rs. 6 crores share)
Ceeded - Rs. 4.50 crores (Rs. 3.50 crores share)
Andhra - Rs. 14.50 crores (Rs. 12.50 crores share)
AP/TS - Rs. 28 crores (Rs. 22 crores share)
Karnataka - Rs. 1.80 crores (Rs. 1 crore share)
Rest of India - Rs. 45 lakhs (Rs. 20 lakhs share)
India - Rs. 30.25 crores (Rs. 23.20 crores share)
There was Varasudu, the Telugu version of Vijay's film Varisu, that released in the Andhra states and the opening is sensational. The word of mouth is also on the positive side, which should eventually help the film score well in the long run. It is certain to be Vijay's highest grosser in the state and increase his fanbase by leaps and bounds. The greatest winner from this film should be the much awaited pan-India project tentatively titled Thalapathy67.
Overall, it is turning out to be a very lucrative Sankranthi season for investors and exhibitors of the Telugu states.
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