Arts and Entertainment
‘Varisu’ vs ‘Thunivu’ at box office (1st week): Who emerges winner – Ajith Kumar or Vijay?
Our Correspondent
Bengaluru, Jan. 20 (EMN): It has been a big week for Tamil cinema, with two highly-anticipated movies, Ajith Kumar’s ‘Thunivu’ and Thalapathy Vijay’s ‘Varisu’, hitting theatres across the globe. Both films have seen above-average collections in their opening week, with ‘Varisu’ coming out on top.
‘Varisu’ First Week Box Office Collection
Vijay’s ‘Varisu’ has minted INR 82 crore from Tamil Nadu with distributors’ share of INR 45.10 crore.
The movie, which was released on more than 430 screens on January 11, received a good response from the family audience. The screen count increases by more than 100 in the subsequent days in its home territory.
‘Varisu’ has raked in INR 10.5 crore with distributors’ share of INR 4.20 crore in the first week. On the other hand, it collected INR 10.8 crore (distributors’ share: INR 4.85 crore) from Karnataka.
The Telugu version of the movie was released in Andhra and Telangana a few days later, earning about INR 16.9 crore (distributors’ share: INR 10.9 crore) from the two states. From the rest of India, the flick collected INR 7.8 crore to take the domestic collection to INR 128 crore.
At the overseas box office, Vamsi Paidipally-directed movie has raked in INR 12 crore (distributors share: INR 5.4 crore) from the US. Whereas, in the UAE, it has made a collection of INR 10.8 crore (distributors’ share: INR 4.85 crore). It earned INR 7.2 crore and INR 3.9 crore from the Australia/New Zealand and the UK box office, respectively.
From other parts of the world, ‘Varisu’ raked in INR 28 crore, taking the global first-week collection to Rs 189.9 crore.
‘Thunivu’ First Week Box Office Collection
Ajith Kumar’s ‘Thunivu’, which had got a better start than ‘Varisu’, has raked in a little lesser than the Vijay-starrer in the opening week in Tamil Nadu. It has made a collection of INR 80 crore with a distributors’ share of INR 44.80 crore.
This flick was released for around 430 screens on the opening day and over 100 screens were subsequently added following a good response from viewers.
Karnataka has turned out to be the second biggest centre for ‘Thunivu’, collecting INR 9 crore (distributors’ share: INR 4.05 crore). However, the Telugu version of the movie failed to set the box office on fire as it raked in just INR 3.5 crore (distributors’ share: INR 1.5 crore) from Nizam and Andhra, while it made a collection of INR 4.2 crore (distributors’ share: INR 1.7 crore) from Kerala. From the rest of the country, it raked in about INR 1 crore.
At the international box office, Ajith-starrer has earned INR 8.4 crore from the US box office with distributors’ share of INR 3.8 crore. It collected INR 8 crore with a distributor’s share of INR 3.6 crore in the UAE. While it earned INR 1.6 crore (distributors’ share: INR 70 lakh) from the Australia and New Zealand box office, it raked in INR 3 crore (distributors’ share: INR 1.35 crore) from the UK.
‘Thunivu’ earned about INR 17 crore from the rest of the world, taking the worldwide collection in the first week to INR 135.7 crore.
Which movie earned more in the first week?
The figures indicate that ‘Varisu‘ (INR 189.9 crore) performed significantly better than ‘Thunivu (INR 135.7 crore) in the first week.
Except in Tamil Nadu, Ajith-starrer could not give a fight to Vijay’s flick in all the other centres.
As a result, Vijay’s ‘Varisu’ emerged winner at the worldwide box office in the first week.
Disclaimer: These are the estimated figures given by the trade trackers and not the official figures.