 "Nerkonda Paarvai tops TN box office with Rs 42 cr opening weekend; Rakshasudu mints Rs 17.1 cr in first week")
Thala Ajith’s _Nerkonda Paarvai_ has dethroned holdover Hollywood hit _Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw_ to become the top-grossing film in Tamil Nadu for the weekend of 9-11 August. The film, directed Vinoth of Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru fame, released worldwide on 8 August with select premieres in a few overseas territories on 6 August. While the movie opened to rave reviews from critics and public alike with a fantastic opening day total of Rs 14.7 crore, the Friday-Sunday gross is estimated to be Rs 27.3 crore, taking the extended opening weekend cumulative to Rs 42 crore. [caption id=“attachment_7162151” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Ajith in a still from Nerkonda Parvaai[/caption] Nerkonda Paarvai also topped the Chennai city box office with a four-day opening weekend total of Rs 5.55 crore (1.58+1.17+1.38+1.42), substantiating Ajith’s star power for a niche film and a non-Holiday, Thursday release. In fact, the film earned Rs 1.15 crore on Monday, taking the 5-day total in Chennai to Rs 6.70 crore. Produced by Boney Kapoor, the film pulled in steady earnings of more than Rs 1 crore on five consecutive days, and it has left the trade quite jubilant. While Ajith’s _Viswasam_ released for Pongal 2019, emerging as the all-time highest-grossing Tamil movie ever in TN, with a massive lifetime gross of Rs 130 crore and a final share of Rs 73.3 crore, Nerkonda Paarvai has revived the momentum for Tamil films at the ticket window. An official remake of Hindi superhit _Pink_ _,_ the movie has boosted Thala Ajith’s total theatrical revenue this year in TN to more than Rs 170 crore (as of 11 August). Nerkonda Paarvai is already the fourth highest-grossing Tamil title of 2019 after Viswasam, _Petta_ , and _Kanchana 3_ _._ In a rare occasion, Boney Kapoor announced on Sunday noon that the film sailed past the $1 million mark from overseas receipts. In the past, producers of Ajith’s films have not often disclosed theatrical grosses officially, which made Boney’s update a rarity. Zee Studios, co-producer of the film, confirmed on 12 August that Nerkonda Paarvai clocked in $2 million from foreign earnings. The film, which features Shraddha Srinath reprising the role played by Taapsee in the original, has raked in a total of Rs 3.1 crore in Karnataka from five days. The 5-day UAE total of the movie is estimated as Rs 3.5 crore. Check out the announcement tweet here
Nerkonda Paarvai has received a lot of praise from celebrities such as Suriya, Jyotika, and RJ Balaji, to name a few. Floored by Ajith’s decision to remake Pink, and the film’s premise, Suriya and Jyotika sent a bouquet of flowers to Thala and director H Vinoth. The film is sustaining well in the weekdays too, and the second-weekend numbers are expected to be good. Here’s RJ Balaji’s tweet praising Ajith’s decision to take up Nerkonda Paarvai
The decision to do a film like #NerKondaPaarvai for a star like Ajith sir is a game changer in Tamil cinema. But the larger picture is the impact it can create in the minds of millions & millions of people who are going to watch it. An important msg delivered by an Icon. #RESPECT
— RJB (@RJ_Balaji) August 10, 2019
( Read — Nerkonda Paarvai: How H Vinoth's commercialised version of Pink made the source material more accessible to Tamil audiences ) Hobbs and Shaw crashed in its second frame in TN, with the film’s running total in the state pegged at Rs 8.4 crore until 11 August. Disney’s remake of _The Lion King_ has sprinted past the Rs 30 crore in TN, making it the ninth highest-grossing film in the state in 2019 and a clean blockbuster from Hollywood. The Jon Favreau-directed film earned Rs 50 lakhs in its fourth weekend in TN. Nagarjuna Akkineni and Rakul Preet’s Telugu romantic comedy Manmadhudu 2 , directed by Rahul Ravindran, has earned an opening weekend total of Rs 15 crore globally. The film has received mixed reviews and this week is going to be crucial to break even at the box office. Despite opening to good reviews and word-of-mouth from audiences, Bellamkonda Srinivas and Anupama Parameswaran’s investigative crime thriller _Rakshasudu_ , an official remake of Vishnu Vishal’s Tamil blockbuster _Ratsasan_ , has garnered an underwhelming first-week total of Rs 17.1 crore with a global distributor share of Rs 9 crore. Meanwhile, Malayalam cinema continues its success streak at the box office with another blockbuster. Made on a shoestring budget of less than Rs 2 crore, coming-of-age high-school drama Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, helmed by newcomer Girish AD, has crossed the Rs 10 crore gross mark from theatrical sales in Kerala alone. The film has already earned Rs 2.79 crore in the UAE alone from three days of theatrical run.
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