Kalyan Ram's ISM opened to a good response, but failed to do decent business at the United States box office over the weekend. Its three-day collection has not lived up to the expectations from the brand image of director Puri Jagannadh.
ISM, one of the most hyped Telugu movies of 2016, had created a lot of buzz with its promos. Puri Jagannadh has a decent fan following in some international markets, especially in North America. His previous ventures like Heart Attack, Temper, Iddarammayilatho, Businessman and Pokiri worked wonders at the US box office. Hence, his latest film was expected to recreate the same magic.
CineGalaxy, which acquired its overseas theatrical rights for a record price, had booked 76 screens for ISM and also made grand arrangements for its premiere. The pre-release hype and promotion helped register good advance booking and resulted in a decent collection at the US box office in the preview shows on Thursday night.
After seeing the response, trade experts predicted that ISM will go on to gain strength over the weekend. But the film received mixed talk from the audience and the word-of-mouth verdict took a toll on its business on Friday. Viewers apparently rejected the film, and it failed to show positive growth in the country on Saturday and Sunday.
ISM collected approximately over $120,071 from 76 screens at the US box office in the first weekend. Its approximate day-wise breakup is $44,722 at Thursday premieres, $27449 on Friday, $32,000 on Saturday and $15,900 on Sunday. Its per-screen average is $1,579. Idlebrain Jeevi tweeted: "#ISM collects $15.9k on Sunday and total gross is $120k in USA."
Telugu movie Pataas had, in the 2015, collected $105,848 (Rs 65.07 lakh) from 18 screens at the US box office in its opening weekend. ISM has beaten this record to become the highest-grossing film for Kalyan Ram in the US, but its per-screen average is much lower than that of Pataas, which grossed an average of $5,880 per screen in the country.
