Sharwanand and Surabhi's "Express Raja" has witnessed good collection at the US box office in its four-day extended first weekend, but has failed to beat the collection record of "Nenu Sailaja".
"Express Raja", distributed by Red Heart Movies, was released in 70 cinema halls across North America and Canada. Despite clashing with "Nannaku Prematho" and "Dictator", the film opened to decent response and showed good growth in the following days.
"Express Raja" has collected $252,691 (Rs 1.71 crore) at the US box office in the four-day extended first weekend. The day-wise breakup of its collection is $45,963 on Wednesday previews and Thursday, $43,761 on Friday, $80,425 on Saturday and $82,379 on Sunday. Its per-screen average stands at $3,609.
"Telugu film #ExpressRaja went from strength to strength with each passing day in USA. Sat better than Fri. Sun better than Fri & Sat. contd," trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted. "#ExpressRaja - USA: Fri $ 43,761, Sat $ 80,425, Sun $ 82,379. Wed to Sun total: $ 252,691 [₹ 1.71 cr]. @RentrakIndia"
"Express Raja" has a larger screen count than that of "Nenu Sailaja" and it also enjoyed a four-day weekend. Hence, some in the industry predicted that the Sharwanand starrer would beat the latter's record. The film got positive response, but it could not translate the strong word of mouth into big bucks as it had to share the viewership with three other movies.
Ram Pothineni's "Nenu Sailaja", which was released in theatres on 1 January, has become the first big Tollywood money spinner in the country. The movie has collected $412,301 from 66 screens at the US box office in its opening weekend (three days). Its day-wise breakup is $21,587 on Thursday previews, $147,791 on Friday, $159,448 on Saturday and $83,475 on Sunday. Its per-screen-average was $6,246.
However, "Nenu Sailaja" did well at the US box office in the second week, but its rocking run has been halted by Sankranti releases in its third week. The movie has collected $7,625 from nine screens at the US box office in the third weekend. Its 17-day-US total collection stands at $6,27,509 (Rs 4.25 crore).
