Oh Baby box office collection: Samantha film grosses 15 times more than U-Turn in USA premieres

Samantha Akkineni's much-awaited movie Oh Baby has started on a fantastic note at the box office with its collection surpassing $100K mark in the premiere shows held across the USA on Thursday.

Samantha Akkineni is one of the most sought actresses down south and she boasts of a large number of fans across the USA. The promos of her latest outing Oh Baby, which is released in Tamil and Telugu on Friday, have received a superb response from the viewers across the country before it hit the screens.

In a bid to cash in on her popularity, Redheart Movies, the overseas distributors of Oh Baby, held its premiere shows in 500 screens across the USA alone a day before its release in the cinema halls. The hype surrounding it helped the movie register a decent amount of advance booking for its preview shows.

The Samantha Akkineni starrer opened to superb response in the preview shows with some screens witnessing 100 percent occupancy. As per early trends, Oh Baby has collected $145,637 at the USA box office in the premiere shows. The number is likely to increase when the final figures are revealed.

The trade analysts in T-Town say that this number holds a mirror to her popularity in the country. Jeevi tweeted, "#OhBaby collects $145,637 from 93 locations in USA through premieres on 4th July holiday! Excellent for a heroine oriented Telugu film Hourly gross on Friday at 9 am PST in USA is $26,197. Superb start! Expecting a very big weekend for #OhBaby @Samanthaprabhu2."

U Turn, which was also released in Telugu and Tamil, collected less than $10,000 at the USA box office in the premiere shows and it was the biggest solo opener for Samantha Akkineni in the country. Now, Oh Baby has collected 15 times more than that movie and become biggest solo opener for the actress.

Directed by Nandini Reddy, Oh Baby is a fantasy comedy film, which is a remake of the South Korean film Miss Granny, which about a 70-year-old woman, who turns into her 24-year-old self after being photographed in a studio. The movie has struck a chord with filmgoers in the USA and the word of mouth is expected to boost its collection at the USA box office in the following days.