Yatra vs NTR Kathanayakudu box office collection: Mammootty fails to beat Balakrishna's US record

Mammootty's Yatra received a good response at the US box office in the premiere shows on Thursday but failed to beat the collection record of Nandamuri Balakrishna's NTR Kathanayakudu in the country.

Yatra is one of the most-awaited Tollywood biopics of 2019 and has huge hype and expectations, which made its overseas theatrical right sell at a whopping amount of Rs 2 crore. Along with the makers, Nirvana Cinemas, which acquired its international rights, ran big scale promotional campaigns for months. They had generated solid pre-release buzz in the US and booked 143 screens.

Nirvana Cinemas has released the theatre schedule list on February 4 and announced the opening advance booking. They tweeted, "#Yatra US Premieres Update: Telugu,Malayalam & Tamil version content has been delivered to theaters and KDM's are sent too. All set for Feb 7 Premieres. Online ticketing is up and you can book your tickets now! #YatraOnFeb8th @70mmEntertains Theater List:"

Nirvana Cinemas enabled in MoviePass, which boosted its advance booking. The distributors tweeted on February 6, "#Yatra US Premieres Update: We are overwhelmed with Yatra US online bookings within just 24 hours of opening the bookings. Many major cities are selling out. Book your tickets now! Virginia- You rock! Centreville 6:30 PM show almost sold out. #YatraOnFeb8th @70mmEntertains."

The Mahi V Raghava-directed biopic was premiered in over 140 screens across the US on Thursday and it registered good response everywhere. As per early trends, Yatra has collected $55,462 from 114 locations at the US box office in the premiere shows and this number is likely to go when the final figures are released by its makers.

Yatra and NTR: Kathanayakudu are biopics of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Ministers - YS Rajasekhara Reddy and NT Rama Rao, respectively. Both these leaders put in a lot of efforts and hard work to reach the position where they stood in the last days of their lives. They are the pride of Telugu people.

Like Balakrishna and Krish, Mammootty and Mahi V Raghava may not have huge fan following in the US, but considering it a YSR's biopic, the movie was expected to cross half-way through the mark of NTR: Kathanayakudu, which minted $476,384 at the US box office in its premiere shows on Tuesday, which was another advantage for Balayya film, as there will offers on ticket price on the day.