Kaala opening weekend box office collection: Rajinikanth-starrer garners Rs 114 cr worldwide in four days

Superstar Rajinikanth-starrer _Kaala_  has topped the Indian box office in its extended opening weekend with a decent four-day gross of Rs 72.5 crore. The film, which is directed by Pa Ranjith and produced by Wunderbar Films, received a simultaneous release worldwide on 7 June in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Lyca Productions presented the film in Tamil Nadu. [caption id=“attachment_4500785” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still of Rajinikanth from Kaala/Image from Twitter.[/caption] Despite the low key initial buzz, a non-festival day and intermittent controversies surrounding the film, Kaala raced past the Rs 100 crore mark worldwide in just four days of its theatrical run, proving the box office mettle of Rajinikanth once again. The worldwide gross of the Dharavi-set socio-political drama, which marked the second consecutive collaboration of Rajinikanth and Ranjith after Kabali, currently stands at a whopping Rs 114 crore in four days. JA Bayona’s summer tentpole  _Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom_  surpassed expectations to score a $7.9 million (Rs 53.3 crore) opening bow in India and took the second spot at the extended domestic weekend box office. Chennai, Chengalpet become highest-earning territories for Kaala In Tamil Nadu, Kaala has grossed nearly Rs 44 crore with Chennai and Chengalpet becoming the film’s highest earning territories. In Chennai, Kaala has already emerged as the highest grossing Tamil film of 2018 with a record-breaking four-day gross of Rs 6.64 crore. Except for a negligible Thursday-Friday drop (Rs 1.76 crore on Thursday to Rs 1.44 crore on Friday), the film witnessed a steady growth and topped the Chennai box office on all four days. It grossed Rs 1.7 crore on Saturday and Rs 1.74 crore on Sunday, thanks to Rajinikanth’s stronghold among family audiences who thronged to multiplexes in the city. Karnataka, Kerala, the Telugu states and the rest of India Karnataka, a usual high-performing neighboring region for Superstar, missed out on the massive opening owing to the sporadic protest s from fringe outfits seeking a ban on the film, on the eve of release. Kaala received a truncated release in Karnataka on Thursday and the full-fledged screenings began in the state only from Friday noon. Now, the film has earned nearly Rs 8 crore in the state. Due to polarised reviews from both audiences and critics alike, Kaala managed to gross only Rs 4.5 crore in Kerala, making it the least-performing territory among the southern states. In Andhra Pradesh and Nizam, the film fell short of expectations at the ticket window and managed to earn a cumulative four-day total of Rs 11.5 crore. The rest of India figures for the four-day extended weekend are pegged at Rs 4.5 crore. The film was released by Anil Thadani’s AA Films in North India. Kaala becomes third highest grossing Tamil film in the USA In offshore markets, Kaala has grossed Rs 41.5 crore in four days. Until Sunday and including Wednesday premieres, the film grossed $1.62 million (Rs 10.8 crore) in four days, in the USA, Rajinikanth’s highest-performing overseas territory. It has already become the third-highest Kollywood grosser in America after Kabali and Enthiran. The real test begins from Monday in the US when the film enters the crucial weekdays. Another good overseas territory for Kaala is Australia where the movie has grossed A$4,02,213 (Rs 2.06 crpore) in four days. Now, it has become 2018’s second highest opening Indian movie in Australia after Deepika Padukone-starrer magnum-opus  Padmaavat. Despite receiving a massive release in the UK, the film has earned only Rs 1.4 crore in its four-day opening weekend and failed to live up to expectations in the region. Rajinikanth’s 2010 release Enthiran still holds an unbeaten record of being the highest Tamil grosser in the UK. The movie has earned nearly Rs 7 crore from the UAE and GCC. Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka are other countries where the superstar’s films have traditionally done well, and Kaala is no exception as far as the opening weekend is concerned. (Also read — Kaala is not a 'Rajinikanth movie': A Dalit-Bahujan reading of the anti-caste politics in Pa Ranjith's film)