Nandamuri Kalyan Ram's much-hyped Telugu movie 118 has opened to a poor response at the US box office in the premiere shows. The reasons for collection are lack of promotion and limited screen count.
Nandamuri Kalyan Ram boasts of a decent fan base in the US and the success of his recent films is proof for it. The actor has chosen a new genre for his latest outing 118 and its promos have generated a lot of curiosity about the film. Hence, the movie was expected to release in over 100 screens and make a superb collection at the US box office.
But 118 was released in a limited number of screens in the US and the reason is that the maker struck the deal in the 11th hour. Nirvana Cinemas, which has distributed it in the country, tweeted on February 26, "Guys, as the project has been finalized in last minute we could only get limited screens. We are actively working on adding more screens from next week. Stay tuned. Sorry for the inconvenience"
This hurry-bury deal did not give enough time to its distributors to promote the KV Guhan-directed film. Released in less than 40 screens, 118 witnessed poor occupancy and collected $ 6,711 at the US box office in the premiere shows. This number is likely to go up when the final figures are released. Movies Box Office tweeted, "#118Movie USA Premiers Reported Gross - $ 6,711 from 20 locations #KalyanRam"
Considering its hype, 118 was expected to break the records of Puri Jagannath's ISM, which is the biggest opener for Kalyan Ram with its collection of $44,722 in its US premiere shows. But the movie has failed to beat it with a very big margin.
The movie 118 starring Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, Shalini Pandey and Nivetha Thomas has impressed the viewers and received a positive talk from everyone. The word of mouth is expected to boost its collection over the weekend. After seeing the response, the distributors added four screens to its existing count and they are also making efforts to book more screens.
Nirvana Cinemas tweeted, "Thanks to all positive reports for #118Movie. We will be adding many locations from tomorrow and Saturday and here are few of them. Stay tuned to our handle for more location updates. 1. Aurora Roswell, GA 2. B&B Overland Park, Kansas 3. Lincoln, Rhode Island 4. Chesterfield, MO"
