Bigil becomes Vijay's top-grossing film globally with Rs 275 cr; Kaithi inching towards Rs 100 cr club

Thalapathy Vijay's Bigil, which released worldwide on 25 October for the Diwali weekend, has set the cash registers ringing at the box-office worldwide with a running global total of Rs 275 crore in 17 days.

The film has become Vijay's top-grossing in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Karnataka, and North India. Bigil has also turned out to be Vijay's highest-earning film in the overseas regions, besting the foreign takings of Mersal, and Sarkar. Taking the worldwide total into account, the Atlee-directed sports drama is currently the top-earning title of Vijay globally, surpassing previous records in Mersal, and Sarkar.

Bigil is the first film of Vijay to sail past the Rs 275 crore mark in worldwide ticket sales. The next few days, especially the fourth weekend, will decide whether the AGS production will enter the coveted Rs 300 crore club or not.

Vijay in a still from Bigil. YouTube

The Tamil Nadu theatrical total of the movie stands at a whopping Rs 133 crore until the end of the third weekend (November 8-10) gross of Rs 7.9 crore. Trade pundits predict that Bigil will supplant the earnings of Ajith's Viswasam in TN in the next few days to become the top-earning Tamil movie in the state, only behind SS Rajamouli's box-office behemoth Baahubali: The Conclusion.

In Singapore, the film has sprinted past the $1 million mark, and it is likely to finish its run as the third top-grossing South Indian title after Enthiran and Baahubali: The Conclusion.

In TN, Chennai, and a lot of other regional territories, Bigil topped the box-office for the third weekend in a row despite stiff competition from Kaithi, which witnessed an extraordinary uptick of screens in its second and third week because of the great word-of-mouth from audiences. "It is highly unlikely for the film to touch the Rs 300 crore in worldwide theatrical revenue. With new releases scheduled for the next few weeks, screens will also get reduced for Bigil in TN and other regions. While it may dethrone Viswasam's numbers in TN, it will end up below the worldwide total of Enthiran. At the end of its full run, Bigil will scrape through the breakeven mark in TN, which is going to be a spectacular feat," informs a popular trade analyst, who wishes to remain anonymous.

After Rajinikanth, it is safe to say that Vijay is the only actor who enjoys a massive box-office pull consistently in the overseas regions. While Bigil has smashed a lot of records in foreign territories, it has also set quite a few fresh benchmarks in several areas.

In France, Bigil is now the best-performing south Indian film of all-time, with more than 35,000 admissions to date.

In Malaysia, Bigil has raked in a substantial total of $3 million (Rs 21.47 crore), making it the third highest-grossing Indian film of all-time after Shah Rukh Khan's Dilwale and Rajinikanth's Kabali.

Karthi's Kaithi, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and produced by SR Prabhu's Dream Warrior Pictures, is inching towards the Rs 100 crore club and is all set to be the actor's first-ever film to attain the feat.

The movie has raked in nearly Rs 94 crore globally and has touched the Rs 50 crore mark in Tamil Nadu. The domestic total of Kaithi has comfortably gone past the Rs 75 crore mark, and Lokesh has become the most sought-after filmmaker in Kollywood right now, with offers from Tollywood, Sandalwood, and Bollywood knocking his doors. The third-weekend total of Rs 7.33 crore in TN is just marginally lesser than Bigil, and it has surprised everyone in the trade. Kaithi has become Karthi's best-performing film in terms of returns on investment and is one of the most profitable ventures in mid-sized Tamil projects.