Vijay's Sarkar earns Rs 47.85 cr on first day in India, outshines Sanju to emerge as 2018's highest-grossing opener

Thalapathy Vijay’s Sarkar has shattered the opening day records of all Tamil films in a significant number of regions, both at home and abroad. The movie, which marks the third collaboration of AR Murugadoss and Vijay, has grossed nearly Rs 30.5 crore in Tamil Nadu on day one, thereby setting a huge benchmark in the state where it released in almost 650 screens. [caption id=“attachment_5509511” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Vijay in a still from Sarkar. Image via Twitter[/caption] Sarkar is the first ever film to race past the Rs 30-crore mark in Tamil Nadu on opening day. Vijay has outperformed his previous best Mersal to score the highest-grossing launch in his home ground. During Diwali 2017, Mersal became the highest-grossing opener in Tamil Nadu, dethroning Rajinikanth’s Kabali. In Chennai, the film has pocketed a handsome total of Rs 2.37 crore on day one, becoming the first movie to cross the Rs 2 crore on its opening day. It must be noted that Vijay was the first hero to open the Rs 1-crore club in a single day in Chennai city through Theri in 2016 and the Rs 1.5-crore club through Mersal in 2017. Vijay’s box-office prowess in the state witnessed a tremendous boost when Mersal supplanted Enthiran to become the second highest-earning film in Tamil Nadu, only behind Baahubali: The Conclusion, at the end of its full run. Now, Vijay has once again substantiated his box-office pull with Sarkar achieving new milestones. However, it may be too early to ring the bell since the film, whose Tamil Nadu theatrical rights were valued at Rs 80 crore, has to rake in nearly Rs 150 crore in the state to be an economically viable venture for all the stakeholders involved. Trade sources anticipate the Sun Pictures production to vault over the Rs 100 crore gross mark in Tamil Nadu at the end of its extended six-day opening weekend (6-11 November). The weekdays from 12 November will be crucial for the film’s final fate at the ticket window in the state. The film has received decent to average reviews from both critics and the general populace. If you take the cumulative total of other Indian states into account, the all-India gross of Sarkar stands at a whopping Rs 47.85 crore. It has clearly outperformed 2018’s previous highest-grossing opener, Ranbir Kapoor’s Sanju which hauled in Rs 34.75 crore on opening day . While Sanju opened in 4000 screens in India alone on a working day, Sarkar has landed in 3400+ screens worldwide on a festival day. The Rs 47.85 crore total for Sarkar has eclipsed Baahubali: The Beginning to become the third best opening for a south Indian film after Baahubali 2 (all languages combined) and Kabali. Popular Tamil producers like SR Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures, RD Raja of 24 AM Studios and Dhananjayan of BOFTA Media Works took to their social media pages and showered praise on Vijay and expressed happiness to see the scale and business of Tamil films widen through Sarkar. While conservative estimates put Sarkar’s opening day total as Rs 1 crore from north India, AP/Nizam, Vijay’s weakest territory in the south, showed good promise with Rs 3.65 crore. In Kerala—where Vijay enjoys the most loyal and dedicated fan following in India after Tamil Nadu—the film, with a mighty gross of Rs 6.6 crore, has surpassed the opening day record of Baahubali: The Conclusion which earned Rs 5.5 crore. Sarkar now holds the record for the top opening day grosser in Kerala for any language and is the first time that any movie has crossed the Rs 6-crore mark in the state on day one. In Karnataka, Sarkar scored the best opening ever for a Vijay film with an excellent total of Rs 6.1 crore and is the second best for a Tamil movie, only behind Rajinikanth’s Kabali. Sarkar has again reiterated Vijay’s strong foothold in offshore markets by garnering a Nifty $3 million+ opening. The film has set new benchmarks in Australia, Singapore, the UK, and France besides amassing solid figures in the USA, UAE-GCC, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. In the US, the film has crossed the half a million mark ($505,785; Rs 3.66 crore) from day one and the premiers combined. In the UK, Sarkar has become the first Tamil film to cross the total of £100K in a single day with an opening of £122,513 (Rs 1.17 crore), which has unseated the previous best figures of Mersal and Kabali. The movie, which features Keerthy Suresh as the lead actress and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar in a pivotal role, has racked up a total of A$219,000 (Rs 1.16 crore) and has registered the all-time best opening for any Tamil film in Australia, unseating Kabali’s A$200,000 day one gross. In France, where Vijay has time and again proved his numero uno status, Sarkar has pulled in nearly 6003 admissions from the mid-night premiers and day one combined. The mid-night premiere footfall at 2160 has uncrowned the previous best Kabali at 2064. Early estimates suggest that Sarkar will score 4,000+ entries on day two again and surge ahead of the 10,000 mark very soon in France. In Singapore, Sarkar has set the cash registers ringing with a jaw-dropping total of SGD 587,680 (Rs 3.1 crore ) on opening day. It’s the best ever opening for any south Indian film in Singapore and also the best ever single-day gross of any south Indian film in the region, a record which was previously held by Baahubali 2’s first Sunday total of SGD 342,246. The UAE-GCC territory has taken home earnings of $945K (Rs 6.84 crore) and has become the best-performing foreign region for the film on its opening day. Early estimates for day two in Tamil Nadu suggest that Sarkar has already gone past the Rs 50-crore mark, a feat which Vijay’s 2017 Diwali release Mersal achieved in three days. Now, the worldwide opening day gross of Sarkar is pegged at Rs 69 crore, which is the fourth biggest global opening for any South Indian film after Baahubali: The Conclusion, Kabali, and Baahubali: The Beginning.