Varun Tej's F2 – Fun and Frustration and Balakrishna's NTR: Kathanayakudu have made decent collections at the US box office, but Ram Charan's Vinaya Vidheya Rama (VVR) hit a new low on Saturday.
This Sankranti witnessed the release of three big ticket Tollywood releases like NTR: Kathanayakudu, Vinaya Vidheya Rama and F2 – Fun and Frustration. All these three films invaded the US market in a big way and the people in the industry felt that they would bring home a massive amount of money in the form of their collections from this country.
Riding on huge hype, NTR: Kathanayakudu was premiered in over 200 screens in the US on Tuesday and it opened to an overwhelming response at the box office. It business went on dropping on Wednesday and Thursday and it was the effect of Rajinikanth's Petta and Ram Charan's Vinaya Vidheya Rama. But despite clashing with F2, the biopic of NT Rama Rao went on to show some amount of growth in its collection on Saturday.
NTR: Kathanayakudu has collected $794,117 at the US box office in four days. Its day-wise breakup is $476,384 on Tuesday, $99,537 on Wednesday, $42,641 on Thursday, $81,412 on Friday and $87,693 on Saturday. The Balakrishna and Vidya Balan starrer is set to surpass $1 million mark by the end of its opening week.
Two days after NTR biopic, Vinaya Vidheya Rama was premiered in the US on Thursday. Among the three films, this one had a bigger hype and promotion and it was expected to lead the race, beating other two. But opened to an average response and the negative word of mouth took a toll on its collection at the US box office on the following days.
Vinaya Vidheya Rama has collected approximately $227,830 at the US box office in two days including its premieres. Its day-wise breakup is $181,118 on Thursday, $30,445 on Friday and $16,267 on Saturday. Considering its current pace, the movie might not be able to cross even $500,000 mark in the country. It will incur huge losses to the US distributors.
F2 – Fun and Frustration looked smaller than other two films in terms of hype, promotions and screen count. On top of it, this multi-starrer movie featuring Venkatesh and Varun Tej hit the screens 1-2 days later. Many in T-Town were keeping their fingers crosssed about its prospects. But the film opened to an earth shattering response the premiere shows on Friday and strong word of mouth took its business upwards on Saturday.
F2 – Fun and Frustration has collected a total of $522,632 at the US box office and its day-wise breakup is $251,263 on Friday and $271,369 on Saturday. Considering its pace, the movie will emerge as the Sankranti winner, beating NTR: Kathanayakudu and Vinaya Vidheya Rama in the country. The film will become another blockbuster for Varun Tej after Fidaa.
The Saturday numbers of all three films are based on early trends and they will be more, when the final figures are revealed.
