'Lion' First Day Box Office Collection: Balakrishna Starrer Fails to Beat Opening Day Record of 'Legend'

Balakrishna's "Lion" has done good collection at the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana box office on the first day, but it has failed to beat the opening day record of his previous outing "Legend".

"Lion", which is one of the most-awaited movies of 2015, released in over 650 cinema halls in both the states on 14 May. The makers held benefit shows at several centres in the wee hours of Thursday and the film got very good response. The movie registered an average of 80 to 90 percent occupancy in both single screens and multiplexes in the regular morning shows.

The Balakrishna-Trisha-Radhika starrer garnered mixed reviews from critics as well as viewers and most of them responded positively to it. The word of mouth took its business upwards in the later shows. As per early trends, "Lion" has done decent business on its opening day.

Its makers are yet to make an official announcement about its opening day collection. If we are to go by the reports, "Lion" has collected approxtimately ₹5 crore to ₹5.5 crore nett at the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana box office on the first day of its release. Trade analysts in Filmnagar say it is doing decent business, considering it is a film of Balakrishna.

TBO: Tolly Box Office tweeted, "#NBKLion opens good on day 1 and looking at the data pouring in, we are looking at 5c+ AP/TG share (early estimates, actuals may vary)."

Andhra Box Office tweeted, "Point to be note here, #NBKLion easily lost Over 20-40 Lakhs due to Delayed shows in Ceeded & Guntur Day1 Considering all the this and lack of any Buzz/Craze, this a Surprisingly Good 1st Day http://bit.ly/1E8sGao Entire Credit to Balayya #Mass."

However, "Legend" - which had reportedly collected ₹6.9 crore at the AP/T box office on the first day - is the biggest opener for Balakrishna. Considering the hype and expectations surrounding "Lion", trade analysts had predicted that his latest outing would beat the record of his last release and become the biggest opener for him. But the film failed to set a new benchmark.

We bring you a comparative picture of the area-wise collection of "Lion" and "Legend", which is based on the approximate figures provided by Andhra Box Office and they may vary from actual numbers. Here is the list of their first day business report: