Karthi and Mani Ratnam's film Kaatru Veliyidai and its Telugu version Cheliyaa (Cheliya) have opened to average response in Thursday premiere shows and registered poor collection at the US Box office on Friday.
Cheliyaa, which has been distributed by JollyHits overseas, was released in 110 screens across North America. On other hand, ATMUS Entertainment, which acquired the rights of its Tamil version, released Kaatru Veliyidai in 112 screens in the country. Both the versions were premiered in a large number of screens on Thursday night.
Considering the hype and huge screen count, trade experts predicted that Kaatru Veliyidai and Cheliyaa would get massive opening and do good collection in their first weekend. But both the movies surprised everyone with their average collections at the US box office in the paid preview shows.
Kaatru Veliyidai and Cheliyaa collected $87,834 together at the US box office in the premiere shows on Thursday night. Idlebrain Jeevi @idlebrainjeevi tweeted: "#Cheliyaa and #kaatruveliyidai collect $25,642 and $62,192 respectively in USA through premieres on Thursday."
Both the movies have received mixed response from critics and audience, who expressed disappointment over the slow narration and predictable plot. The word of mouth also took a toll on their collection on Friday.
Kaatru Veliyidai collected $108,811 at the US box office on its first day, while Cheliyaa raked in $22,869.
Kaatru Veliyidai and Cheliyaa have collected $219,514 together at the US box office in the premieres and on the first day. Trade expert Taran Adarsh tweeted: "USA Boxoffice: #KaatruVeliyidai Thu previews + Fri $ 171,003 [₹ 1.10 cr]. #Cheliyaa Thu previews + Fri $ 48,511 [₹ 31.28 lakhs]. @Rentrak."
Both the versions were expected to collect over $1 million at the US box office in the first weekend. But considering its current pace of collection, they may find it difficult to cross even half way through the mark. They are likely to beat the record of Karthi's last outing Kaashmora, which raked in $278,394 in 70 screens at the US box office in its opening weekend.
However, Kaatru Veliyidai and Cheliyaa will not be able to smash the records of Mani Ratnam's last venture OK Kanmani and OK Bangaram which minted $615,968 (175 screens) and $230,185 (39 screens) at the USA box office in the first weekend. The film is likely to end up incurring losses to its distributors.
