Pongal has arrived a little early for the Tamil cine-goers with Rajinikanth's Darbar hitting the screens on Thursday, 9 January. The AR Murugadoss-directorial is seeing the light of the day across the globe in over 7000 screens on the opening day and has got an above-average start on the first day in the key centres.
Darbar in Tamil Nadu
The action thriller has been released in over 650 screens in Tamil Nadu. Last year, Rajini's Petta had to battle hard to get more screens with Ajith's Viswasam, but this time, his film does not have any completion. As a result, the movie is released big in the state.
The advance booking for Darbar has met with good response although the film is releasing on a weekday. The response is not on par with Rajinikanth's earlier movies like Kabali or 2.0, but the movie has registered a good occupancy in its home territory, but the positive word-of-mouth is expected to do the trick. In Chennai alone, the Rajinikanth-starrer had a record number of 340+ shows.
Rest of South India
The AR Murugadoss-directorial will clash with Mahesh Babu's Sarileru Neekevvaru (release date: 10 January) and Allu Arjun's Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (Release date: 12 January) for this Sankranthi. However, the movie has got a decent opening in the Telugu-speaking states.
In Kerala, Darbar is releasing in a record-number of 350 screens. The film is expected to do well during the weekend here. Whereas in Karnataka, the movie has got a fantastic response in Bengaluru where it is having 800+ shows.
Darbar at US Box Office
Rajinikanth and Nayanthara's film is being distributed by Prime Media in the US. The film had premieres across the country. Till 10 pm EST, it had grossed 405,901 from 158 locations. The final figure is awaited.
Going by the reports, the Lyca Productions-funded movie is releasing big in the GCC, while there is still confusion over its release in Malaysia. Both the regions are important for the Tamil flick among the overseas centres.
With the film getting fairly positive reviews, the business of Darbar is expected to boost its business in the days to come.
