Venky Mama pulls in Rs 40 crore globally over opening weekend; Jumanji: The Next Level tops Tamil Nadu box office

Prior to its release, _Venky Mama_ was widely expected to revive the Tollywood box office from its recent slump. The film has most definitely come out with a splendid opening weekend performance in all release markets. The film has bagged a worldwide share of around Rs 21.5 crore over the opening weekend, with the total gross at around Rs 40 crore. Venky Mama has already recovered about 65 percent of its total theatrical investment. The comedy, directed by KS Ravindra, is eventually expected to break even and officially emerge as a hit for all the stakeholders involved. [caption id=“attachment_7773551” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Naga Chaitanya and Venkatesh in a still from Venky Mama. Image from YouTube[/caption] Venky Mama, starring Venkatesh Daggubati, Naga Chaitanya, Raashi Khanna and Payal Rajput, is a family entertainer with elements of patriotism. The film has received good patronage from the mass audience so far. Although its reviews have been mixed but that has not had any adverse impact on the run. This year has been a dream year for both Venkatesh and Chaitanya, whose blockbuster successes  F2: Fun and Frustration and Majili respectively, were followed by Venky Mama. The coming week days will predict how how the film sustains its run. Here is a breakup of the film’s opening weekend theatrical share Telugu-speaking states - Rs 16.75 crore Total India - Rs 19.15 crore Overseas - Rs 2.35 crore Total worldwide - Rs 21.5 crore In Kollywood, quite a few small films such as Kaalidas, Champion and Capmaari released last Friday. The box office numbers of these films is dismal but Kaalidas has proven itself as best of the lot in terms of content. The film has to deal with multiple big releases this Friday. For this, it needs to put up a really good show during weekdays if it has to continue playing in substantial number of screens in its second week. _Jumanji: The Next Level_ was the biggest attraction at the Chennai city box office and all of Tamil Nadu. The regional dubbed versions for such films go a long way in attracting local masses in states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Jumanji grossed an impressive Rs 89 lakh in the city over its opening weekend. The adventure film is expected to repeat the recent successful run of Hollywood biggies such as Joker and Frozen 2 . Mardaani 2  was among the top five films at the Chennai box office but it is a case of multiple new releases eating into each other’s collections. Here is a look at all the other new releases and their Chennai city gross numbers from 13 December to 15 December. Venky Mama - Rs 21 lakh Kaalidas - Rs 17 lakh Mardaani 2 - Rs 15 lakh Capmaari - Rs 12 lakh Champion - Rs 11 lakh Mamangam - Rs 11 lakh (4 days, Thursday release) The Body - Rs 7 lakh This Friday will see the arrival of Hero, Thambi and Dabangg 3. Dabangg 3 will also have dubbed versions releasing in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and the Telugu states. Salman Khan will be doing a whirlwind promotional tour of Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore to reach out to his local fans and audiences. If the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada dubbed versions of Dabangg 3 emerge successful, this will open Salman’s South market in an even bigger way. Sivakarthikeyan’s Hero and the Karthi-starrer Thambi are evenly matched, as both the heroes are in form and have blockbusters behind their back such as Namma Veetu Pillai and Kaithi, respectively. While Hero is a superhero flick revolving around corruption in our education system, Thambi is expected to be an emotional family drama with the trademark Jeethu Joseph twists and turns in the crime thriller space.