US BO: Three Million Braving Digital Threat Bring Cheers

The US market, which is going through a rough patch, can’t have asked for a better movie season. Sankranthi 2020 has breathed life into the market with its exceptional performance.

Three big movies hit the market for Sankranthi 2020. Superstar Rajinikanth starrer Darbar was a Tamil cum Telugu bilingual; then there were Sarileru Neekeevaru and Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo from Telugu starring Mahesh Babu and Allu Arjun, respectively. There were massive expectations from all three owing to superb combinations. In the opening weekend, all the films came to the party.

Darbar, Sarileru Neekevvaru and Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo have all collected more than 1 Million in the opening weekend. That’s 3 Million cumulative gross from them with in the first weekend itself. It is massive and sensational, keeping in mind how movies fared in the last three months in the US market.

Allu Arjun’s third film with Trivikram Srinivas, Ala Vaikunthapurramulo is leading the race as far as trend is considered. It has so far collected $ 1.4 Million. It is expected to get to 3 Million in the final tally. Sarileru Neekevvaru starring Mahesh Babu has the highest collection for the weekend with $ 1.6 Million so far. The trend is decent, and the coming days will decide the final total.

Darbar is a disappointment despite a decent number of around $ 1.4 Million for the weekend. It was expected to dominate other releases given its combination and star power (based on the past track record). The trend is also not that encouraging, but with Rajinikanth, one can never write off until the movie is actually out.

Irrespective of the final outcome, the coming out of the audience is a healthy sign. People today (especially in the US) have become wary of coming to cinemas. It is due to the fast digital availability on Amazon Prime, Netflix, SunNext, Zee5 and other such platforms.

The phenomenal opening weekend suggests there are an audience and its not dying. The right combination has to be set to bring them out. We hope the positivity continues for the rest of the year and we see a spike in the business of Telugu cinema.