Ilayathalapathy Vijay's "Theri" has got an earth-shattering opening in Tamil Nadu. But it has failed to beat the first-day record of the Ajith Kumar-starrer, "Vedalam." The Atlee Kumar-directed "Theri" was released on Thursday, April 14 in over 425 screens in the state and had about 270 shows in Chennai alone on the first day.
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"Theri" has become the biggest opener in Vijay's career by raking in approximately Rs. 13.1 crore, as per Andhra Box Office. It has minted Rs. 1.01 crore in Chennai, Rs. 1.60 crore in North and South Arcot, Rs. 4.04 crore in Coimbatore, Rs. 1.81 crore in Madurai, Rs. 1.80 crore in Trichy & Thanjavur, Rs. 1.77 crore in Salem and Rs. 1.07 crore in the Tirunelveli- Kanyakumari region.
The latest Tamil movie has broken Vijay's previous best of Rs. 12.5 crore made by "Kaththi," which was released on the occasion of Diwali 2014.
The industry had set high hopes on "Theri" for setting a new benchmark for the opening day collection in Tamil Nadu by breaking the record of "Vedalam," which had minted Rs. 15.5 crore on the first day. But it has failed to do so as it was released in fewer screens as compared to Ajith's film that had hit the screens in over 520 screens.
"Theri" was not released in most of the theatres in the key Chengalpet region, which generates one-third of the collections for Tamil films, due to a profit-sharing disagreement between the distributors and exhibitors. The deadlock failed to end before the release and caused huge loss for the makers of the film.
It was predicted that "Theri" had the potential to earn Rs. 8 crore from the Chengalpet region alone. Current estimates say it has made about Rs. 3 crore. This clearly indicates that Vijay's movie could have beaten the opening day-record of "Vedalam" if it was released here. Well, the situation is likely to remain the same on the second day as the two parties have not found a solution yet.
In the overseas market, "Theri" has done extremely well in the U.S. where it earned $211,424 from premiere shows. The movie is expected to do well in the coming days as it has won the hearts of the family audience.
[1 lakh = 100,000 | 1 crore = 10 million | 100 crore = 1 billion]
