Director Atlee Kumar's Mersal starring Vijay has crossed $1.5 million mark at the US box office and shattered the lifetime record of Rajinikanth's Lingaa to become the third highest grossing Tamil film in the country.
Mersal was released in 275 screens in North America by ATMUS Entertainment on October 18. Having received record response in its premiere shows, the movie kept the momentum over the weekend.
Mersal collected $1,483,433 at the US box office in the 9-day-extended first week. Its day-wise breakup is $403,900 on Tue, $123,432 on Wed, $93,944 on Thu, $204,574 on Fri, $305,481 on Sat, $175,549 on Sun, $31,249 on Mon, $58,156 on 2nd Tue, $18,023 on 2nd Wed and $17,762 on 2nd Thu.
Since there are no big ticket movie releases around, the Vijay and Atlee Kumar's second film together managed to retain 100 screens in its second week and kept the cash registers ringing in on its second Friday. Mersal collected $46,334 at the US box office on its 10 day, taking its total collection to $1,529,585.
Idlebrain Jeevi tweeted: "#Mersal collects $46,334 on 2nd Friday in 94 North Indian locations and total gross is $1,529,585. Crosses $1.5 M in USA & Canada "
Theri, which minted $1,128,000 at the US box office, was the highest grossing film for Vijay and Atlee. Mersal shattered this record in just four days. The movie has gone become the third all time highest grossing film, smashing the record of Rajinikanth Lingaa, which collected $1.514 million at the US box office in its lifetime.
Here is the list of Top 10 all time highest grossing Tamil films. The numbers are based on various reports and they may vary from the actual figures.
Rank | Movie | Release | Language | Screens | Collection |
1 | Kabali | 2016 | Tamil/Telugu | 240 | $4,157,234 |
2 | Endhiran | 2010 | Tamil/Hindi/Telugu | 139 | $2,408,824 |
3 | Mersal | 2017 | Tamil | 275 | $1,529,585 |
4 | Lingaa | 2014 | Tamil/Telugu | 135 | $1,514,298 |
5 | 24 | 2016 | Tamil/Telugu | 155 | $1,470,761 |
6 | I | 2010 | Tamil/Hindi/Telugu | 321 | $1,312,999 |
7 | Sivaji | 2007 | Tamil | NA | $1,300,000 |
8 | Theri | 2016 | Tamil | NA | $1,128,000 |
9 | Vishwaroopam | 2013 | Tamil/Telugu | 72 | $1,240,287 |
10 | OK Kanmani | 2015 | Tamil/Telugu | 104 | $1,073,317 |