Nikhil Siddharth's "Shankarabharanam" (Sankarabharanam) has opened to an average response at the US box office and failed to beat the first weekend collection records of "Size Zero" and "Kumari 21F".
Nikhil Siddharth tried to experiment with his roles and subjects and proved successful by scoring three back-to-back hits like "Swamy Ra Ra", "Karthikeya" and "Surya vs Surya". "Shankarabharanam", which is another experimental movie in his career, was expected to be a bigger success than his previous outings.
The growing popularity of Nikhil made the theatrical rights of "Shankarabharanam" sell at a record price for a film of the actor. SkyHigh Movies Inc, which bagged its overseas distributions rights, released the movie in over 100 cinema halls across North America, which is a record release for a Nikhil film. The distribution house also held premieres in several locations across the country.
"Shankarabharanam" opened to decent response in the paid previews on Thursday and in regular shows on Friday. But the word of mouth took its business downwards on following days. The movie has collected $49,043 (Rs 32.70 lakh) 81 screens at the US box office in the first weekend.
Anushka Shetty's "Size Zero" collected $155,916 (Rs 1.03 crore) from 100 screens at the US box office in its opening weekend. The film lost out 70% of its screen count to "Shankarabharanam". Hence, the movie has showed steep decline in its business and collected $11,370 from 27 screens at the US box office in its second weekend. Its 10-day US collection stands at $183,145 (Rs 1.22 crore).
Released on 20 November, Kumari 21F collected $188,457 [Rs 1.25 crore] from 100 screens at the US box office in the second weekend. Its collection was affected by Size Zero in second week and "Shankarabharanam" in third week. In its third weekend, the Sukumar-produced film collected $3,190 from 8 screens at the US box office, taking its 17-day US total to $252,151 (Rs 1.68 crore).
