Sharwanand's Mahanubhavudu has registered a fantastic collection at the US box office and led the race at the ticket counters, beating Mahesh Babu's Spyder and Jr NTR's Jai Lava Kusa (JLK).
The Jr NTR-starrer was released in theatres on September 21 and did good business in the first weekend. But Spyder took a toll on its collection on the weekdays. Jai Lava Kusa collected $1,467,292 at the US box office in the first week.
Its business hit rock bottom at the ticket counters in North America on its second Friday, following the release of Mahanubhavudu. Jai Lava Kusa collected $14,118 at the US box office on its eighth day, taking its gross total to $1,481,410.
The Mahesh Babu-starrer was released in a large number of cinema halls in the US on September 27 and was premiered in the country a day before it hit the screens. Spyder collected $1,005,630 at the US box office and became the fifth South India film to join the club of the movies that cross $1 million in premieres.
But the AR Murugadoss-directed film garnered negative talk from the audience, which took a toll on its collection on the following days. The distributors decided to reduce its ticket prices from $25 to $14 after Mahanubhavudu received positive talk in its US premieres. Idlebrain Jeevi tweeted on September 29: "Ticket rates in USA for #Spyder are reduced to $14 or less from today."
Spyder has collected a total of $1,272,881 gross at the US box office in three days. The breakup of its day-wise collection is $1,005,630 in premieres $132,984 on Wednesday, $44,802 on Thursday and $89,676 on Friday.
Mahanubhavudu, which was released in over 120 screens across North America, was premiered in a record number of screens on Thursday and garnered good response everywhere in the country. The movie collected $85,581 in the premiere and shattered the records of Sharwa's previous movies Express Raja and Shatamanambhavati, which minted $21,000 and $44,000, respectively, in the US premieres.
The Sharwanand-starrer received positive talk from the audiences and the word of mouth took its business upwards on Friday. Mahanubhavudu collected $113,700 from 104 locations at the US box office on Friday, taking the total gross collection to $199,281. The movie has led the race beating both Spyder and Jai Lava Kusa on both Thursday and Friday.
The distributors of all three movies are yet to reveal their Saturday collection. But early estimates show that Mahanubhavudu is way ahead of Spyder and Jai Lava Kusa at the US box office. Idlebrain Jeevi tweeted: "Hourly gross as of 11 pm EST on Saturday (30 Sep) in USA: #Mahanubhavudu: $162k #Spyder: $104k #JaiLavaKusa: $20k "
