Mersal box office collection: Vijay-starrer grosses over $11 mn from international markets in 12 days

Tamil actor Vijay’s Mersal, which released worldwide on 18 October for Diwali, has breached the whopping $10 million mark at the overseas box office, with the overall foreign earning standing at $11.1 million (Rs. 71.8 crores) in twelve days. In 2017, Aamir Khan’s box-office hurricane Dangal (which released on 23 December), Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees and director SS Rajamouli - Prabhas’ mega-blockbuster Baahubali 2 are the only three films to have crossed the $10 million mark in overseas. Raking in $10 million from overseas markets is an extraordinary milestone for a Tamil film, and it shows the fast-rising box-office mettle of actor Vijay in foreign territories. In fact, Mersal is only the fourth Tamil release after Rajinikanth’s Enthiran, Kabali and Baahubali 2 (Tamil version) to accomplish this incredible run. [caption id=“attachment_4162951” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Vijay in a still from Mersal[/caption] Meanwhile, the box-office numbers in Tamil Nadu, the home state of Vijay, have created a furore on the internet with a section of media carrying veteran distributor Abirami Ramanathan’s allegations that the numbers are amplified for publicity, only to realise later that the video was an old interview edited by rival fan groups. The channel that had uploaded the interview has now removed it. In fact, Abirami Ramanathan, who is the Chennai city distributor for the film, had even confirmed in a video interview that Mersal surpassed all existing records in Chennai before the edited version of his old conversation went viral on social media. USA Within a few days of release, Mersal emerged as 2017’s highest-grossing Tamil film in the USA edging past the lifetime gross of Vijay Sethupathi - Madhavan’s critically and commercially acclaimed blockbuster Vikram Vedha and Ajith’s Vivegam. The total gross (premieres + 12 days) of Mersal in North America currently stands at $1,663,343 (Rs. 10.76 crores) with USA gross of $1,290,125 and Canada of $373,218. Mersal attained major feats by becoming the first Vijay film to surpass $1 million in the USA alone and to gross $1.5 million in North America. In its second week, the film is still running in 100+ theatres with per ticket price ranging from $6 to $11. With $1.29 million gross in the USA alone, Mersal is the all-time fourth highest-grossing Tamil movie in the country, with the top three spots occupied by Superstar Rajinikanth’s Kabali, Enthiran, and Lingaa. United Kingdom (UK) The UK has been one of Vijay’s strong-performing territories, and Mersal reiterated it once again with an excellent run. In 12 days, with a total gross of £531,206 (Rs. 4.54 crores), Mersal has become the only south Indian film after Rajinikanth’s 2010 release Enthiran to cross the half million mark. And, it’s sitting at the second spot in the all-time highest-grossers list in the UK, only behind Enthiran (£615,966). In fact, _Mersa_l outgrossed Vijay’s previous best Theri and became all-time number second Tamil film in just six days. The opening weekend numbers of Mersal £352,647 (Rs. 3 crores) unseated Rajinikanth’s Kabali to emerge as the all-time highest-opening Tamil film. Mersal also opened to a flying start with the highest day-one figure of £ 94,311 (Rs. 81.08 lakhs) beating Kabali’s £93,385. Australia For the weekend October 19th to October 22nd, Mersal entered the top ten charts at the Australian box office and was ranked above the Bollywood film Golmaal Again. It opened to a great start with a day one gross of A$133,057 (Rs. 68 lakhs), setting the opening day record a Tamil film. Within four days of run, Mersal’s total gross of A$345,239 (Rs. 1.76 crores) eclipsed the lifetime gross of Ajith’s Vivegam and emerged as the second biggest grosser of 2017, only next to Baahubali 2 Tamil. With a total 12-day gross of A$ 484,956 (Rs. 2.4 crores), Mersal is now the third-highest grossing Tamil film in the territory after Kabali (A$525,000) and Baahubali 2.   Singapore, Sri Lanka, UAE, NZ and other regions Mersal is also raking in the moolah at Singapore, Sri Lanka, UAE, NZ and other regions. The film, in its first week, became the fastest Tamil outing to gross SGD 1 million in Singapore. Until October 28th, the number of UAE entries for the film touched 134K with an estimated revenue of $1.208 million (Rs. 7.85 crores). In the first weekend (October 19-22) of UAE, Mersal managed to tower above Bollywood films Golmaal Again and Secret Superstar to stay on top. At the end of 8 days, the estimated gross of Mersal in Sri Lanka was LRK 10 cr (Rs. 4.24 crores). It also registered the biggest opening for an Indian film in Sri Lanka. In New Zealand, Mersal released in 6 locations, a record number for a Tamil film and showed promised in the opening weekend a reported gross of NZ$ 30,005 (Rs. 13.6 lakhs), which is the second best for a Tamil movie after Baahubali 2. After the second weekend, the total gross in NZ now stands at NZ$ 38,013 (Rs 16.88 lakhs). The film also set an opening weekend record (October18-22) in Norway with a gross of NOK 307,134 ($38,473), outscoring Baahubali 2’s NOK 306,450 ($35,696). Note: All the overseas box-office numbers are compiled and reported by the global media measurement and research company Rentrak Corporation.