Mahesh Babu's latest release "Srimanthudu" has done well at the USA box office and beaten the first weekend collection record of his previous outing "Aagadu" and Pawan Kalyan's "Attarintiki Daredi" in two days.
The distributors of "Srimanthudu" held premiere shows in 117 cinema halls in the United States of America on Thursday. The movie opened to an overwhelming response and collected approximately $5,32,000 from the paid preview shows.
"Srimanthudu" received rave reviews from the audiences in the premiere shows and the word-of-mouth helped it in doing good business on Friday and Saturday.
The film collected $1,753,698 (Rs 11.18 crore) from about 150 screens at the USA box office in two days; the numbers also include amount collected from premiere shows.
Bollywood film critic and trade expert, Taran Adarsh, tweeted: "Telugu film #Srimanthudu embarks on an IMPRESSIVE start in USA. Thu previews + Fri + Sat: $ 1,753,698 [₹ 11.18 cr]. WOW!"
Telugu film #Srimanthudu embarks on an IMPRESSIVE start in USA. Thu previews + Fri + Sat: $ 1,753,698 [₹ 11.18 cr]. WOW!
— Taran Adarsh (@taran_adarsh) August 10, 2015
Until the release of "Baaubali", Power Star Pawan Kalyan's "Attarintiki Daredi" was the highest Telugu grosser with a collection of $17,42,734 (Rs. 10.91 crore) at the USA box office in its opening weekend. The film's lifetime earnings stood at about $25,22,116 (Rs 15.54 crore) in the country.
Mahesh Babu's last release "Aagadu" collected $1,387,355 (Rs 8.44 crore) from 130 screens at the USA and Canada box office in its opening weekend.
The movie was withdrawn from most of the theatres in its opening week for two reasons. First, "Aagadu" garnered negative reviews from the audience; the word-of-mouth also took toll on its business.
Secondly, big-ticket films such as "Power" and "Govindudu Andarivadele" were released in theatres in its second and third week, respectively, spoiling its chance to beat the lifetime collection record of "Attarintiki Daredi" at the USA box office.
"Srimanthudu" has shattered the first weekend collection record of both the movies in just two days. Its first weekend collection is over $1 million, which is closer to the lifetime collection of "Attarintiki Daredi".
In three days, the Mahesh Babu starrer has become the third highest Telugu grosser in the USA, after "Baahubali" and "Attarintiki Daredi".