Mahesh Babu and Rakul Preet Singh in Spyder
Mahesh Babu and Rakul Preet Singh in Spyder.PR Handout

Mahesh Babu and AR Murugadoss' film SPYder (Spider) has crossed the $1 million mark at the US box office in the premiere shows and become the third biggest opener of 2017 after Baahubali 2 and Khaidi No 1.

Read: Spyder Review | Pre-Release Business | Jai Lava Kusa 6 day collection

Superstar Mahesh Babu enjoys a huge fanbase and his popularity coupled with AR Murugadoss' brand name had created a lot of hype and expectations about SPYder. ATMUS Entertainment, Sai Ventures‏ and AZ India had bagged the overseas theatrical rights for a record price of Rs 23.5 crore. (Rs 15.5 crore for Telugu version and Rs 8 crore for Tamil version).

The distributors have booked over 800 screens for the release of SPYder with its Telugu and Tamil versions gracing 600 screens and 200 screens, respectively, in North America. The movie had registered huge advance booking and grossed $0.5 million at the US box office in the pre-sale of tickets for the premiere show, four days ahead of its release.

The Mahesh Babu and Rakul Preet Singh-starrer was premiered in nearly 300 screens on Tuesday and received superb response everywhere with some screens running to packed houses. The movie has made a superb collection in preview shows and the distributors are still compiling its numbers.

Spyder has collected $1,005,630 at the US box office in the premiere shows. Taran Adarsh tweeted: "Almost $ 1 mn on a working day [Tue] in USA - a feat very few Indian films/actors can boast of. Indeed, #SPYder/Mahesh Babu hv cast a spell! And the *updated* total... #SPYder is SENSATIONAL in USA... Crosses $ 1 million... Tue: $1,005,630 [₹ 6.59 cr] from 236 locations. @Rentrak."

SPYder has become the biggest opener for Mahesh Babu, beating the records of his previous movies Brahmotsavam, Srimanthudu and Aagadu. The movie has also shattered the record of Jai Lava Kusa to become the third biggest opener of 2017. It has become the fifth all-time biggest opener Southern movie at the US box office.

Here is the list of top 10 all-time highest grossing south Indian movies at the US box office in the premiere shows.

Rank Movie Release Gross
1 Baahubali 2 2017 $2,450,000
2 Kabali 2016 $1,925,379
3 Baahubali 2015 $1,365,000
4 Khaidi No 150 2017 $1,295,613
5 Spyder 2017 $939,000
6 Sardaar Gabbar Singh 2016 $616,000
7 Jai Lava Kusa 2017 $589,000
8 Janatha Garage 2016 $584,000
9 Brahmotsavam 2016 $560,000
10 Srimanthudu 2015 $536,000