Dear Comrade earns Rs 33 cr globally in opening weekend; The Lion King tops Tamil Nadu box office

Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna ’s Telugu campus-drama Dear Comrade , which was widely publicized across various cities for the past week in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka, has earned a worldwide total of Rs 33 crore from its opening weekend. The film, directed by Bharat Kamma, has however witnessed a slump in collections during the weekdays. In the US, Dear Comrade has pulled in a total of $750,000 (Rs 5.1 crore) until Wednesday noon. It must be noted that the film hauled in a fantastic gross of $310,824 from the premieres alone. The cumulative first Monday total of the film was a shocking $15,000 in the stateside, and it’s the seventh-lowest ever for a Telugu movie this year, which is definitely not a good sign. [caption id=“attachment_7056091” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] A still from Dear Comrade.[/caption] Reliable sources from the trade inform us that the film’s Hindi remake rights have been sold to Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions for a whopping price of Rs 7 crore. Deverakonda’s previous blockbuster Arjun Reddy was remade in Hindi as Kabir Singh , and Shahid Kapoor reprised the role of Vijay. Kabir Singh sailed past the Rs 275 crore mark in worldwide theatrical revenue and made everyone sit up and take notice of Vijay’s work. The worldwide theatrical rights of Dear Comrade were valued at Rs 33 crore. Sources say the distributors might incur some losses on the project, taking into account the drop in footfalls during the weekdays. The combined Andhra Pradesh and Telangana share of the film is estimated to be Rs 14.3 crore from five days. Now, Bellamkonda Srinivas and Anupama Parameswaran’s investigative crime thriller Rakshasudu, an official remake of Vishnu Vishal, Amala Paul’s Tamil blockbuster Ratsasan , is all set to hit screens tomorrow and shows are likely to reduce for Dear Comrade. The pre-release business of Rakshasudu, excluding the broadcast, digital rights, and dubbing, is said to be Rs 16 crore. Meanwhile, ace director Puri Jagannadh’s iSmart Shankar , which amassed an excellent global total of Rs 45 crore in its four-day opening weekend, has now vaulted over the Rs 30 crore mark in worldwide theatrical share in less than two weeks and despite stiff competition from Dear Comrade. The film, which starred Ram Pothineni, Nabha Natesh and Nidhhi Agerwal in the lead roles, had reportedly touched the Rs 50 crore gross mark in global theatrical sales on its eighth day. The film’s worldwide theatrical rights were estimated to be Rs 20 crore and it’s been now declared a clean blockbuster for all the stakeholders involved in the project. [caption id=“attachment_6870041” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] A still from The Lion King[/caption] Although Santhanam’s comedy entertainer A1 released in theaters on Friday, Disney’s holdover blockbuster The Lion King topped the Tamil Nadu (TN) box office with its second-weekend total of Rs 7.6 crore in the state. Directed by Johnson and produced by Santhanam, A1 accrued a total of Rs 7.3 crore in TN and occupied the second spot at the box office. Vijay Deverakonda’s Dear Comrade earned a total of Rs 2.8 crore in TN, including both Tamil and Telugu versions and came in at the third position in the box office. A1 is doing well in the weekdays too and it looks like Santhanam is all set to continue his winning streak this year after the super-hit success of horror-comedy Dhillukku Dhuddu 2. Chiyaan Vikram’s Kadaram Kondan , which topped the Tamil Nadu and Chennai city box office for the weekend of 19-21 July, was pushed to the fourth spot in its second weekend of 26-28 July. The running total of Kadaram Kondan, directed by Thoongavanam helmer Rajesh K Selva and produced by Kamal Haasan, is pegged at Rs 20 crore. Despite fetching positive reviews from both critics and audiences, Amala Paul’s _Aadai_ has crashed at the ticket window in its second weekend with a dismal total of Rs 24 lakh from theatrical sales.