Vada Chennai earns Rs 27.9 cr on opening weekend; Aravinda Sametha becomes Junior NTR's highest-grossing film

While holdover hits like Junior NTR’s Aravinda Sametha and Nivin Pauly’s Kayamkulam Kochunni continued to rake in the moolah at the box-office, new releases such as Vada Chennai, Sandakozhi 2 and Hello Prema Guru Kosame have also opened well at respective ticket windows. Vada Chennai, which marked the third consecutive collaboration of national award-winning filmmaker Vetrimaaran and Dhanush, scored a fantastic extended opening weekend gross of Rs 27.9 Cr in Tamil Nadu from five days. The movie has registered career-best opening figures for Dhanush in the state, dethroning his earlier record in 2015 release Maari. Adult certification given by the censor board has not deterred viewers from thronging to cinemas to watch the movie for the Ayudha Pooja festival weekend. In the USA, Vada Chennai has crossed the $300K mark on Monday. The film, which is produced by Lyca and Wunderbar Films, has collected Rs 44.52 lakhs in Australia, Rs 46.28 lakhs in the UK and Rs 30.84 lakhs in Malaysia respectively during the opening weekend. [caption id=“attachment_5375831” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Dhanush in Vada Chennai[/caption] The film also recorded an excellent total in Chennai, with an opening day gross of Rs 81 lakhs, making it the fifth best opening of 2018 in the city after Kaala, Seema Raja, Vishwaroopam 2, and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam. In six days, Vada Chennai has taken home earnings of Rs 3.31 Cr from Chennai city. The film also topped the Chennai city box-office for the weekend ending 21 October. The worldwide gross for the film is estimated to be Rs 42.5 Cr from the extended five-day opening weekend. Meanwhile, Vetrimaaran has given in to fishermen community’s request to remove a scene from the film since it has offended the sentiments of the latter. The intimate scene in question is shot with Ameer and Andrea inside a boat in the middle of the sea. Despite starting on a conservative note, Vishal’s Sandakozhi 2 picked up steam towards the weekend. The movie grossed Rs 4.57 Cr on its opening day in Tamil Nadu, which is higher than Vishal’s previous releases, Irumbu Thirai, and Thupparivaalan. The Chennai city gross of the film stands at a good Rs 2.11 Cr from five days. The Telugu version, Pandemkodi 2, has collected a share of Rs 5.05 Cr from the Telugu states with a cumulative gross of Rs 10.1 Cr. Continuing its good performance through the second weekend, Aravinda Sametha has become Junior NTR’s highest-grossing film in his career with a total gross of over Rs 150 Cr and a massive share of Rs 92 Cr from 11 days. The film has comfortably vaulted over the Rs 100 Cr gross mark from the Telugu states alone. Aravinda Sametha has also become the third consecutive Rs 130 Cr grosser for Junior NTR after Janatha Garage and Jai Lava Kusa. He is now the only Tollywood hero to have achieved this incredible feat. In the USA, Aravinda Sametha, with a whopping total of $2.07 million, has become the tenth highest-earning Telugu movie of all-time, surpassing Fidaa and Agnyaathavaasi.  [caption id=“attachment_5351831” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from 96. Image via Twitter[/caption] Nivin Pauly’s period magnum-opus Kayamkulam Kochunni continued to maintain its opening momentum and entered the Rs 50 Cr club comfortably. The Rosshan Andrrews directorial has pocketed Rs 53.5 Cr worldwide in just 10 days until 21 October. It is now the fifth Malayalam film to cross the Rs 50 Cr mark after Pulimurugan, Premam, Drishyam, and Ennu Ninte Moideen.  Ram Pothineni, Anupama Parameswaran’s Telugu romance drama Hello Guru Prema Kosame opened to good reviews and secured a decent opening weekend gross of Rs 23.4 Cr with a share of Rs 14.2 Cr. The ongoing weekdays will be crucial for the film and will determine its fate at the box-office. Mani Ratnam’s Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, which hit screens on September 27, has so far earned Rs 91 Cr worldwide from 25 days. Except for the poor performance of its Telugu version Nawab, all the other regions, both home and overseas, turned out to be profitable for the stakeholders. Trisha, Vijay Sethupathi’s 96, which has sprinted past the Rs 25 Cr mark in Tamil Nadu, has emerged as a super-duper blockbuster in Kerala. The film directed by Prem Kumar has taken everyone by surprise and has pulled in a theatrical revenue of Rs 6.72 Cr in Kerala in 16 days. The theatrical share is pegged at Rs 2.55 Cr and the movie’s rights were bought for just Rs 50 lakhs including the print and publicity costs. 96 is now the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2018 in Kerala.