Director Ram Gopal Varma's "Killing Veerappan", starring Shivaraj Kumar, has slowed the pace of collections of "Bhale Manchi Roju" and "Abbayitho Ammayi" at the US box office in its opening weekend.
"Killing Veerappan", one of the most anticipated Telugu movies, was expected to have a massive release in North America and debut to superb response. But the film released in a limited number of theatres and received good response. The film has collected $20,481 (Rs 13.68 lakh) from 14 screens at the US box office in the first weekend. Its per-screen average stands at Rs 1,462.
The Ram Gopal Varma-directed docudrama thriller was expected to have a better opening than last week's release "Nenu Sailaja". But its per-screen average is 65% of that of the Ram-starrer. In its second weekend, the romance drama has added $129,608 (from 51 screens) to its 10-day US total collection of $606,080 (Rs 4.05 crore). Its per-screen average stands at $2,541.
"Bhale Manchi Roju" released in 25 screens in North America on 25 December 2015. The movie debuted with decent response and collected $84,744 at the US box office in the first weekend. Despite clashing with "Nenu Sailaja", the film managed to retain 15 screens and collect $15,042 in the country in the second weekend.
In its third week, the screen count of "Bhale Manchi Roju" was reduced to six in the country. The Sudheer Babu-starrer has collected $1,819 at the US box office in the third weekend and its 17-day total stands at $132,850 (Rs 88.72 lakh). Its per-screen average is $303.
Along with "Nenu Sailaja", "Abbayitho Ammayi" released in the country on 1 January, but failed to get a good opening. The Naga Shourya-starrer collected $4,205 from 32 screens at the US box office in its first weekend. With its screen count reduced to one in the second weekend, the film has added $213 to its 10-day total of $5,870 (Rs 3.92 lakh). It has become the first big Tollywood disaster of the year in the country.
