Pawan Kalyan's "Sardar Gabbar Singh" (Sardaar/SGS) has made decent collection at the US box office, but failed to beat the opening-day records of "Nannaku Prematho" and "Oopiri."
Eros International, which has distributed "Sardar Gabbar Singh" with iDream Media, held premiere shows of the film in 300 screens in North America. The movie, which had good advance booking, opened to a massive response and collected $615,853 at the U.S. box office in the preview shows. It became the highest-grossing Telugu film in U.S. premieres, beating the record of "Srimanthudu."
Trade experts had predicted the Bobby-directed film would show a big leap on its opening day in the country, but it could not live up to expectations. Instead of growth, "Sardar Gabbar Singh" witnessed a drop of almost 70 percent in its business Friday.
"Sardar Gabbar Singh" collected $189,624 at the US box office on the first day, taking its total to $805,477 [Rs 5.36 crore]. Taran Adarsh tweeted: "Telugu film #SardaarGabbarSingh is heading towards $ 1 mn in USA. Thu pre $ 615,853, Fri $ 189,624. Total: $ 805,477 [₹ 5.36 cr]. @Rentrak. [sic]"
There could be two big reasons for the steep decline in numbers for "Sardar Gabbar Singh." Firstly, the ticket price for the premiere shows was as high as $25 in many locations. But the rate was reportedly reduced to $10 on the opening day. Secondly, the movie received mixed word-of-mouth from the audience in the premieres, and it must have taken a toll on its business on the first day.
Junior NTR's "Nannaku Prematho" and Nagarjuna's "Oopiri" have collected $ 235,965 and $209,101, respectively, at the US box office on the first day. These movies have become first and second highest-grossing Telugu films in the U.S. in 2016. The first day collection of "Sardar Gabbar Singh" is much lower than the business of these movies.
"Srimanthudu" collected $1.13 million at the US box office from Thursday previews and Friday. The Mahesh Babu-starrer was the second-highest-grossing Telugu film of all time in the U.S. on the first day, after "Baahubali: The Beginning." Considering its hype and Pawan Kalyan's star power, "Sardar Gabbar Singh" was expected to shatter this record, but it has fallen short of it.
