Akshay Kumar's Good Newwz tops Chennai city box office; Telugu film Prati Roju Pandaage sails past Rs 30 cr globally

There are just a few days left till all the Pongal/Sankranthi films reach cinemas. Rajinikanth’s _Darbar_ is anticipated to arrive first, on 9 January, in Tamil, Telugu as well as Hindi. The Lyca Productions film, directed by AR Murugadoss, will have a huge global release. Mahesh Babu’s Telugu film Sarileru Neekevvaru will be out on 11 January followed by Allu Arjun’s _Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo_ on 12 January. Both actors command a good fan following in the South. Besides Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, their films will get a decent release in other Southern states. Pattas, lead by Dhanush, is the other big Pongal film, and it’s expected to arrive on 15 January. Fans of the star are eagerly awaiting the launch of the trailer and the final release date announcement. The film’s songs have already worked in the film’s advantage. [caption id=“attachment_7855241” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] A still from Good Newwz. Image from Twitter[/caption] The holdover films are now in the last leg of their run, as the festival biggies will sweep all the available theaters. Sivakarthikeyan’s Hero and Karthi’s Thambi have been in a close contest ever since their release in December. While Hero took the early lead due to Sivakarthikeyan’s popularity and the comparatively better publicity around the film, Thambi gradually and noticeably covered lost ground after the opening weekend. Thambi has finally overtaken Hero in gross collections. At the end of the third weekend (5 January), Thambi grossed Rs 3.68 crore in Chennai city with Hero’s gross at Rs 3.66 crore. While the former can be categorised as an average venture, Hero was declared a flop by the trade due to high expectations and stakes involved. Both the films have grossed between Rs 23 to Rs 24 crore in Tamil Nadu. Interestingly, the top weekend grosser in Chennai between 3 to 5 January was _Good Newwz_ , starring Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor Khan . This cracking comedy — family drama is being played with English subtitles in Tamil Nadu theaters, thereby adding to the interest factor of the audience. The film has pulled in Rs 85 lakh in Chennai within a ten day run with the total Tamil Nadu gross estimated at around Rs 2.5 crore. Whether Good Newwz can cross the Rs 1 crore gross mark in the city would depend on the number of shows it gets in multiplexes after the release of the Pongal/Sankranthi films. Akshay’s recent ventures Mission Mangal (Rs 1.03 crore) and _Kesari_ (Rs 1.01 crore) were able to achieve the feat in Chennai. The year-end Telugu blockbuster Prati Roju Pandaage with Sai Dharam Tej, Raashi Khanna, and Sathyaraj, continues its dream run. The film’s total worldwide theatrical share has crossed the Rs 30 crore mark, as against the total theatrical rights valued at Rs 18 crore. The other big December release in the industry, Venky Mama , is also a box office success story. The Telugu industry gets into the Sankranthi period with the positive momentum given by these two films. On the other hand, the Tamil industry badly needs a resounding hit as all the films after the successful Diwali blockbusters (Bigil and Kaithi) could not set the cash registers ringing. There have been some underwhelming films such as Hero, Enai Noki Paayum Thota , Action , and _Sangathamizhan_ . The result of Darbar, in particular, would set the tone for the industry this year. Everyone hopes that like the twin blockbusters Viswasam and Petta last Pongal; Darbar and then Pattas would similarly draw audiences to theaters in droves this time.