Karthi's Kaithi has made a better collection than Vijay's Bigil at the USA, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (AP/TG) box office on fifth and sixth days. Bigil is much bigger than Kaithi in terms of star power, hype, promotion, screen count and advance booking.
Many in the film wondered whether the Karthi starrer would survive the wave of the Vijay starrer at the box office. Kaithi started with low numbers, but word of mouth boosted its collection over the weekend. The film has gone on to fare better than Bigil in some areas on the weekdays.
Bigil was released in over 100 screens across the USA and collected $951,196 (Rs 6.75 crore) at the USA box office in the first weekend, while Kaithi minted $157,991 (Rs 1.15 crore) from over 50 screens. The movie not only left behind the latter with a huge margin but also made bigger collection than Bollywood's big-ticket film Housefull 4, which raked in $896,432 (R 6.35 crore) in three days.
Bigil collections witness steep decline
But Bigil witnessed a steep decline in its collection at the USA box office on Monday, while Kaithi remained rock-steady. Ramesh Bala, a Tamil film trade observer, tweeted, "At the #USA Box Office, #Kaithi did a mere 7% of #Bigil's Gross on Day 1. On day 4, it is doing 65% of #Bigil Good improvement."
However, Kaithi has gone on to fare better than Bigil on Tuesday and Wednesday. Kaithi collected $17,640 (61 locations) on Monday, $28,627 (61 locations) on Tuesday and $9,180 (47 locations) on Wednesday. Its sixth day total stands at $213,438 at the USA box office. On the other hand, Bigil minted $23,806 (121 locations) on Monday, 25,783 (121 locations) on Tuesday and $8,775 (86 locations) on Wednesday and its total stands at $1,009,560.
Khaidi, the Telugu version of Kaithi, lower numbers than Whistle, the Telugu version of Bigil in the Telugu states. But the movie went to have a clear edge over the other from Monday. Khaidi has earned Rs 3.56 crore to its AP/TG distributors, who have shelved Rs 3.50 crore on its rights. Whistle has fetched Rs 9 crore to its AP/TG distributors, who invested Rs 10.50 crore on its rights.
