Box Office: 'Lingaa' Sees Drop in Opening Week; Will Rajini-Starrer Pick up in 2nd Weekend?

Action drama flick "Lingaa" is entering the second week from Friday, 19 December, at the worldwide box office. The film, which took good openings, in the first weekend, has witnessed huge drops in its collections during the weekdays.

As a result, the first week performance of "Lingaa" has been just average. Several shows have been reduced due to poor response. The release of "PK" also seems to have taken a toll on "Lingaa" screen count with the Aamir Khan-starrer grabbing a good number of screens in theatres across key markets.

"Lingaa" grossed over ₹80 crore in its opening weekend at the worldwide box office. The film is estimated to have earned over ₹100 crore in its first-week worldwide, though the official figures are yet to come. Although the film's performance has been better than many other Tamil films, it still has a long way to go in order to achieve the hit status.

According to reports, distributors have bought the film for exorbitant rates and the film's not-so great performance is affecting their business. It is being said that the distributors held a meeting on Thursday and have decided to demand compensation from the Rajinikanth. "#Lingaa starts limping,distributors & some exhibitors of film held a meeting 2day. Has requested #Rajinikanth & producers 4 a compensation," tweeted entertainment industry tracker Sreedhar Pillai.

With significant reduction in screen count, "Lingaa" has entered the second week. It will be interesting to see if the second weekend will help the film pick up its business or will it still witness drop in its collections. The release of "PK" is expected to have a negative effect on "Lingaa."

There are no big releases in Tamil and Mysskin's "Pisaasu" is the only well-known film that has hit screens on 19 December. The horror flick has got decent reviews and its performance will depend on word of mouth. If the film manages to perform well, theatre owners might allot more screens to it.

Despite new releases, "Lingaa" is expected to dominate the screens in Tamil Nadu. Aamir's "PK" is likely to take over in other key South Indian markets like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. Among the overseas markets, the Rajini-starrer is expected to dominate the Malaysian box office, whereas "Pk" is all set to rule the US, the UK, Australian and Canadian box offices.