Kolaigaran pulls in Rs 6.8 cr from opening weekend in Tamil Nadu; Virus earns Rs 6 cr worldwide

Vijay Antony’s investigative crime thriller  Kolaigaran , which released on 7 June, has pulled in Rs 6.8 cr from its opening weekend in Tamil Nadu. Kollywood cinephiles have always embraced good thrillers with open arms and the 2019 superhit Thadam, starring Arun Vijay, is another example too. Kolaigaran, which has Vijay Antony locking horns with Arjun, has received unanimously positive reviews from across the board. [caption id=“attachment_6820381” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Arjun Sarja and Vijay Antony lock horns in Kolaigaran. Image via Twitter[/caption] Directed by Andrew Louis and presented by Dhananjayan’s BOFTA Media Works, Kolaigaran topped the Tamil Nadu and Chennai city box-office for the weekend of 7-9 June. The film, which also stars Ashima Narwal in an important role, has collected Rs 96 lakhs (28+34+34) from Chennai city alone in its three-day opening weekend. The word-of-mouth among audiences is excellent for the film, and it is expected to sustain over the next days comfortably despite a few new releases this week. Suriya’s holdover political drama  NGK , which opened to mixed reviews when it released on 31 May, has successfully sailed past the Rs 50 cr mark from worldwide theatrical revenue. In Tamil Nadu, the film has only managed to rake in nearly Rs 32.5 cr from 10 days of theatrical run. Directed by Selvaraghavan and produced by SR Prabhu’s Dream Warrior Pictures, NGK has earned a combined gross of Rs 10.5 cr from the Telugu states and Karnataka. NGK, which also stars Rakul Preet and Sai Pallavi in essential roles, has so far collected Rs 4.59 cr from Chennai city and was pushed to the third spot at the box-office in its second frame. Kolaigaran and Salman Khan’s Bharat occupied the first two positions at the Chennai box-office. NGK is currently the fourth top-grossing film of 2019 in TN after Viswasam, Petta, and Kanchana 3. Prabhu Deva’s holdover horror comedy Devi 2, which also stars Tamannaah Bhatia as the lead heroine, has hauled in a middling total of Rs 4 cr at the TN box-office so far. The film, directed by Vijay released alongside NGK on 31 May, opened to average reviews from both critics and audiences alike. Meanwhile, SJ Suriya’s family entertainer Monster has been declared a super-hit at the ticket window with earnings of over Rs 8.5 cr in TN. For the weekend of 7-9 June, Salman Khan’s Bharat was placed at the third spot in TN box-office with a total of Rs 2.6 cr. [caption id=“attachment_6778201” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Poster for Virus[/caption] Malayalam film Virus, which features an ensemble cast of Parvathy, Tovino Thomas, Rima Kallingal, Kunchacko Boban, Revathy, Rahman, and Indrajith Sukumaran to name a few, has collected an approximate worldwide total of Rs 6 cr from theatrical ticket sales. While the opening weekend Kerala gross of the film is said to be Rs 3.9 cr, the UAE-GCC territory has contributed nearly Rs 2 cr for the Aashiq Abu directorial. Based on the 2018 Nipah outbreak in Kerala, Virus has received rave reviews from everyone and the film is gradually picking up well in certain territories thanks to excellent word-of-mouth from audiences. Meanwhile, a flurry of new films has been scheduled for release this week in Tamil including Lady Superstar Nayanthara’s long-pending thriller Kolaiyuthir Kaalam, Sivakarthikeyan’s sophomore production Nenjamundu Nermaiyundu Odu Raja, Taapsee Pannu’s home invasion thriller Game Over helmed by Maya director Ashwin Saravanan, and director Ramprakash Rayappa’s multi-starrer crime thriller Suttu Pidikka Utharavu. Mammootty’s Unda directed by Khalid Rahman is another big south Indian release this week. While there’s no major release from Tollywood this week, the reported final figures of Samantha Akkineni, Naga Chaitanya’s Majili, and Nani, Shraddha Srinath’s Jersey have arrived. The worldwide theatrical revenue of Majili is pegged at Rs 66 cr, with a fantastic global share of Rs 37.3 cr. The film has been declared a solid blockbuster at the ticket window. Although Nani’s Jersey didn’t do as well as expected, the film has been still declared a hit thanks to its consistent performance at the box-office with lifetime global earnings at Rs 49 cr.