Ram Charan-starrer Rangasthalam becomes Telugu cinema's third highest grosser, after two Baahubali films

The across-the-board positive reviews and excellent WOM from day one have catapulted Ram Charan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu-starring period drama  Rangasthalam  to a massive Rs 175 crore worldwide gross in 17 days. [caption id=“attachment_4409053” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Ram Charan in a still from Rangasthalam. YouTube[/caption] The film, which hit cinemas on 30 March, has quietly trounced previous box office records in Tollywood to emerge as the industry’s all time third highest earning film, only behind SS Rajamouli’s magnum opuses Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. The Sukumar directorial set the tone of a blockbuster on day one itself when it amassed a whopping  Rs 46 crore worldwide . It was declared the all time ninth highest grossing opener for a South Indian movie and the seventh highest in the Telugu film industry, after excluding Rajinikanth’s Kabali and Vijay’s Mersal. The massive Rs 28.8 crore opening day gross in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was more than twice of Ram Charan’s previous best opener Bruce Lee – The Fighter, helmed by Sreenu Vaitla. After outpacing Baahubali: The Beginning’s day two record in Telugu states by becoming the second highest performing film on first Saturday (31 March) – only behind Baahubali 2: The Conclusion – Rangasthalam continued to set the cash registers ringing in the opening frame to storm into the all time highest opening weekends list at the third place with Rs 87 crore gross. Again, a non-Baahubali record for Tollywood. The film has pulled in a 17-day gross of Rs 120 crore from the Telugu states alone with a smashing distributor share of nearly Rs 79.3 crore to dethrone Mega Star Chiranjeevi’s Khaidi No. 150 as the third highest earning film in Tollywood. With the worldwide theatrical rights valued at Rs 80 crore and worldwide cumulative share standing at Rs 107 crore, the Mythri Movie Makers production has become the first South Indian blockbuster of 2018 which is crippled by a two-month-long no-show from Tamil cinema. Rangasthalam achieved another interesting feat by becoming the fastest non-Baahubali film to vault over the Rs 100 crore worldwide share mark in two weeks. Rangasthalam, which stars Jagapathi Babu and Prakash Raj in important roles, also pulled in good numbers from the neighbouring states. It churned one crore rupees in its first week in Chennai to emerge as the all time second highest grossing Telugu film in the city, only behind Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. In Karnataka, it has raked in a share of Rs 7.6 crore on Rs 15.65 crore gross. It also entered the elite list of films (Baahubali  series, Kabali, and Mersal) that have earned more than Rs 5 crore share in Bangalore alone. Rangasthalam has also delivered a convincing performance in overseas markets, especially the United States. After comfortably galloping its way to the million dollar mark on day one – Ram Charan’s second million dollar outing after Dhruva – Rangasthalam was poised to become the third Telugu film after Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion to earn more than $ 3 million stateside. At the end of second Saturday, Rangasthalam busted past the $3 million mark in the USA to become the fourth South Indian film after the Baahubali movies and Kabali to accomplish the milestone. Now, Rangasthalam ($3.37 million) has earned nearly $500,000 more than the fourth highest grossing Telugu film Srimanthudu ($2.89 million) in the USA. It also became the third highest earning South Indian film in New Zealand (NZD$44.3K) behind the Baahubali movies and the third highest grossing Telugu film in Australia (A$368K), where it is still behind Tamil films such as Kabali, Theri and Mersal. The box-office success of Rangasthalam is a shot in the arm for the Telugu film industry whose exhibitors braved one of the biggest disasters in Pawan Kalyan —  Trivikram’s   Agnyaathavaasi , which tanked without any trace during the Sankranti festival in January. While Agnyaathavaasi ruthlessly paled in comparison to the uplifting kick-start provided by Khaidi No. 150 in January 2017, Rangasthalam has outperformed it to enliven the spirits of theater owners who are currently gearing up for two big budget star vehicles in Mahesh Babu-starrer  Bharat Ane Nenu  on 27 April and Allu Arjun’s  Naa Peru Surya  on 4 May.