Dhruva
Dhruva US box office collection: Will Surender's film beat the record of Ram Charan's Bruce Lee premiere? Pictured: A still from Dhruva Twitter

Director Surender Reddy's Dhruva received a brilliant opening at the US box office in the premiere shows. But the film has failed to beat the collection record of Ram Charan's Bruce Lee: The Fighter.

Read: Dhruva movie review

Dhruva saw a huge demand for its overseas theatrical rights and Kannada film distribution house JollyHits, which is making its debut in Tollywood, is said to have acquired the rights for a whopping price of Rs 5.25 crore. The distribution house made grand arrangements to cash in on the popularity of the mega family in key international markets like the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

The distribution house held premiere shows of Dhruva in the US, UK and UAE on Thursday night and the movie did superb business in all these international markets. When compared to other foreign countries, the movie was premiered in a larger number of cinema halls in the US, which has a huge fans base for the family.

Ram Charan's previous movies did not make it big at the US box office, as compared to the films of other young heroes. So the actor decided to promote the film in the country, and along with Aravind Swamy, he attended the premiere of Dhruva there. Though the ticket pricing was very high, the film recorded decent advance booking for the preview shows everywhere.

The Ram Charan and Rakul Preet Singh-starrer witnessed superb footfall in its preview shows everywhere. Dhruva collected $223,224 at the US box office from the premieres on Thursday. Taran Adarsh tweeted: "Telugu film #Dhruva takes a SMASHING START in USA... Thu previews $223,224 [₹ 1.51 cr]... Fri-Sun should add to a STRONG total. @Rentrak."

Bruce Lee: The Fighter, which was released on15 October 2015, collected $285,000 at the US box office in the premiere shows. The movie was the biggest opener for Ram Charan. Dhruva was expected to beat this record, but the movie has failed to do so.

Dhruva was also expected to beat the record of Nithin's A...Aa, which collected $251,548 at the US box office in the premiere shows and become the fifth biggest opening Telugu film in the country in 2016. However, it has failed and landed in sixth place.

Here is the list of seven biggest opening Telugu films at the US box office:

Rank Movie Gross in Premieres
1 Sardaar Gabbar Singh $615,853
2 Janatha Garage $560,509
3 Brahmotsavam $560,274
4 Nannaku Prematho $355,321
5 A...Aa $251,548
6 Dhruva $223,224
7 Sarrainodu $197,454