Theatre screens this Friday, 25 August, were inundated with releases in multiple languages — Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu. [caption id=“attachment_3976643” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A Gentleman and Vivegam opened to theatres on 25 August. Images via Twitter[/caption] Bollywood releases comprised the Sidharth Malhotra, Jacqueline Fernandez-starrer A Gentleman, Nawazuddin Siddiqui-Bidita Bag’s Babumoshai Bandookbaaz and Aadar Jain-Anya Singh’s debut Qaidi Band. The south Indian releases included Vivegam and Arjun Reddy, which kept the cash-registers ringing at the box-office. The Ryan Reynolds-Samuel Jackson-starrer The Hitman’s Bodyguard also opened at theatres this week, witnessing decent footfalls, in addition to the Idris Elba-Matthew McConaughey adventure The Dark Tower. The biggest impact was made by Ajith’s Vivegam. While it is known that Ajith enjoys a massive stardom and fan-following in South India, the actor’s film opened with as much fan-frenzy in the US as well. Trade analyst Ramesh Bala posted on Twitter about this year’s top grossing Tamil premieres in the US, and Vivegam stands above all with a blockbuster collection of $208,000. It even shattered the record of Rajinikanth’s Kabali for being the biggest opener in Chennai, reports The Hindustan Times.
2017 Top Tamil Premieres #USA:#Vivegam - $208K#Bairavaa - $81K#KaatruVeliyidai - $62K#Si3 - $42K#VIP2 - $21K#VikramVedha - $13K
— Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) August 24, 2017
He also shared the official figures of the film’s day 1 performance and the collections are estimated to be around Rs 17.2 crore (in Tamil Nadu).
#Vivegam 's TN Day 1 final number is Rs 17.2 Crs.. Gross.. pic.twitter.com/in2yr5Bujc
— Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) August 26, 2017
Vijay Devarakonda’s Arjun Reddy has also catapulted itself into the league of top-grossing flicks in spite of being made on a shoestring budget. According to a report by The Hindustan Times, the film has even surpassed Ajith’s Vivegam in the US.
#ArjunReddy rocking in #USA Box office.. $270K already.. Friday Mid-day status..
— Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) August 26, 2017
This is Vijay’s second big release after his 2016 runaway hit Pellichoopulu. Arjun Reddy is earning rave reviews for Vijay’s performance and the story of the film. Some even claim that with this film, Vijay has emerged as the next big thing in Telugu filmdom. Coming to Bollywood, the films have performed decently on Friday; they are expected to go strong during the weekend. A Gentleman has been able to mint Rs 4.04 crore on day 1, as mentioned by film-trade analyst Taran Adarsh on his Twitter profile. He posted:
#AGentleman Fri ₹ 4.04 cr. India biz.
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) August 26, 2017
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz opened with an approximated average of 2.04 crore as per Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s tweet on 26 August, while Qaidi Band could just manage around Rs 25 lakhs, according to a report by Koimoi.com.
Opening of 2.05 Cr, Thank You all for the support & Congratulations team #BabumoshaiBandookbaaz #BabumoshaiCosts3Cr
— Nawazuddin Siddiqui (@Nawazuddin_S) August 26, 2017
Please watch & support.
However, this Friday being Ganesh Chaturthi could be a reason for low footfalls, and the Bollywood films can definitely hope for some improvement in the figures as the week progresses.