US box office collection: Rajini's Petta beats Ajith's Viswasam, Balayya's NTR Kadhanayakudu

Rajinikanth's Petta has registered a decent opening making a good collection at the US box office on Wednesday, while Ajith's Viswasam and Balakrishna's NTR Kadhanayakudu received a lukewarm response in the country.

South Indian film industry is offering a grand Sankranti treat to its audience, who are all excited to watch films like Petta, Viswasam, NTR Kadhanayakudu, Vinaya Vidheya Rama, F2 (Fun and Frustration) and few other movies. The US is one of the biggest international markets and the makers of these films have made grand plans to exploit it. But trade experts believe these films will eat away each other's prospects.

The Nandamuri Balakrishna starrer Telugu movie had 600 premiere shows in 200 cinema halls across the US on January 8 and being a Sankrati release, it opened to fantastic responses everywhere. NTR Kadhanayakudu collected $476,384 at the US box office in the premiere shows and its per-screen average stood at $2,534. It became the biggest opener for both Krish and Balayya.

The biopic of late legendary actor NT Rama Rao was successful in winning the hearts of the US audience. The word of mouth was expected to help NTR Kadhanayakudu make a good collection at the box office on the following day, but the movie witnessed a steep decline in its numbers. Trade analysts believe this was due to Petta and Viswasam becoming first choices for many at the expense of NTR Kadhanayakudu.

As per early estimates, NTR Kadhanayakudu has collected $99,537 at the US box office on the first day, taking its total collection to $575,921. Jeevi tweeted, "#NTRKadhanayakudu collects $99,537 from 183 locations on 9 January with per location average of $544. Expecting to reach $1 Million by weekend "

Petta opened to good response in the premiere shows and collected $557,387 at the US box office on Wednesday, but it has failed to beat the record of Rajini's Kabali. Jeevi tweted, "Rajinikanth's #Petta (Tamil+Telugu) collects $557,387 from 259 locations through premieres on 9 January. Per location average is $2,152. "

On the other hand, the Ajith Kumar starrer also had huge hype, but it has failed to live up to the same, as the film has got a poor response in the premiere shows. As per early estimates, Viswasam has collected $57,195 at the US box office on Wednesday. Jeevi tweeted, "Tamil film #Viswasam collects $57,195 from 97 locations in USA on 9 January with per location average of $590 "