Katamarayudu starring Pawan Kalyan and Shruti Haasan opened to a good response in North America with its collection crossing $1 million mark at the US box office in 3 days (1st weekend).
North America is a potential market for Pawan Kalyan's movies and the distributors released Katamarayudu in over 240 screens on March 23. They also held premiere shows in over 200 screens a day before its release. The film got a good response and collected $489,923 at the US box office from the premiere shows on Thursday night.
Katamarayudu collected $174,327 and $245,052 at the US box office on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Taran Adarsh tweeted: "Telugu film #Katamarayudu debuts at No 9 at USA BO... Collects $ 664,250 [₹ 4.34 cr]. @Rentrak." He added on Sunday: "Telugu film #Katamarayudu is all set to cruise past $ 1 million in USA... Sat $ 245,052. Total: $ 924,089 [₹ 6.04 cr]. @Rentrak."
Early trade reports suggest Katamarayudu has collected over $100,000 at the US box office on Sunday, taking its 3-day first weekend collection to $1,024,089. CineGalaxy, who distributed it overseas, tweeted: "With POSITIVE WORD OF MOUTH, #KATAMARAYUDU running successfully & hitting $1 Million before Sun Noon. Go For it in theaters near you today!"
Three of Pawan Kalyan's films, Gabbar Singh, Attarintiki Daredi and Sardaar Gabbar Singh have already made the $1 million club. Now, Katamarayudu has become fourth film to achieve this feat. It remains to be seen whether it will be able to cross $2 million mark in the country.
CineGalaxy has shelled out Rs 11.50 crore for its overseas distribution rights and Katamarayudu has earned over Rs 3 crore for the distributors in the international markets in 3 days. However, trade experts say the weekend performance of the film doesn't augur well for the distributors. The film will be a huge loss unless it surpasses $2.5 million mark at the US box office in its lifetime.
