Mahesh Babu's Maharshi has started on a good note and made decent collections at the USA box office in the premiere shows. The movie has emerged as the biggest Tollywood opener of 2019.
Mahesh Babu is the most popular Telugu actor in the USA and Maharshi is his landmark 25th movie. The superstar has teamed up with director Vamshi Paidipally of Oopiri fame and most successful producer Dil Raju. These aspects had generated a lot of expectations from the film. In addition, the promos of the movie have soared up the viewers' curiosity sky high.
Great Indian Films, which has distributed big ticket films like Baahubali 2 and Bharat Ane Nenu, has acquired its overseas theatrical rights for a whopping price of Rs 14 crore. The distribution house has booked a record number of screens - 260 - across the USA in a bid to cash in on Mahesh Babu's popularity.
Great Indian Films also held 2,500 premiere shows of Maharshi across the USA and it is the highest number for any Indian film in the country. The tickets were priced at $20 for adults and $15 for kids, which are reasonable when compared to the ticket price for the premiere shows of Mahesh Babu's previous films ($25 for adults and $18-20 for kids). The film received a good response in advance booking.
The Vamshi Paidipally-directed film has opened to very good response with some theatres witnessing 100 per cent occupancy in the premiere shows. Maharshi has collected $511,000 from at the USA box office in the preview shows. Maharshi has shattered the collection records of NTR: KathaNayakudu and F2 - Fun and Frustration at the USA box office in the premiere shows.
Maharshi has become the biggest Tollywood opener of the year. Here is the list of top Telugu movies of the year. The figures mentioned here may vary from the actual numbers released by their distributors.
| Rank | Movie | Release | Gross |
| 1 | Maharshi | May 8 | $511,000 |
| 2 | NTR: Kathanayakudu | January 8 | $442,998 |
| 3 | F2 - Fun and Frustration | January 11 | $251,263 |
| 4 | Vinaya Vidheya Rama | January 10 | $181,118 |
| 5 | Jersey | April 19 | $144,687 |
| 6 | Majili | April 4 | $140,454 |
| 7 | Mahanayakudu | February 14 | $74,460 |
| 8 | Mr Majnu | January 25 | $59,633 |
Considering its hype and screen count, Maharshi was expected to beat the records of Spyder and Bharat Ane Nenu, which are the biggest openers for Mahesh Babu. But it has fallen short of big margin to do it. In fact, its current pace of collection shows that the movie may not enter the list of the top five biggest openers of the actor. One possible reason for it is the low ticket prices.
Here is the list of his biggest openers in the USA in recent years.
| Rank | Movie | Locations | Ticket | Gross |
| 1 | Spyder | NA | $25 | $1,005,630 |
| 2 | Bharat Ane Nenu | NA | $20 | $800,000 |
| 3 | Brahmotsavam | 149 | $25 | $560,000 |
| 4 | Srimanthudu | NA | $20 | $537,000 |
| 5 | Aagadu | 108 | $20 | $524,000 |
| 6 | Maharshi | 260 | $20 | $511,000 |
