Mahesh Babu’s Telugu-Tamil language thriller SPYder reeled in over $1 million at American theaters in its opening week.
Mahesh Babu’s Telugu-Tamil language thriller SPYder reeled in over $1 million at American theaters in its opening week.
LOS ANGELES (Diya TV) — Mahesh Babu’s Telugu-Tamil language thriller SPYder reeled in over $1 million at American theaters in its opening week.
SPYder becomes only the third Indian film this year, and only the sixth ever, to debut with a seven-figure box office tally in the U.S.
The film claimed fifth-place on its opening week behind ollywood blockbusters Kingsman: The Golden Circle, IT, Jeepers Creepers 3 and The Lego Ninjago Movie. The debut puts it in rare company among foreign language films that have released in American theaters. The highest-ranked opening for an Indian film was a third-place debut weekend haul of $10.4 million collected by Baahubali: The Conclusion in May.
SPYder’s $1,005,630 American premiere puts the AR Murugadoss-directed film a shade behind the all-time Tuesday box office record for Indian movies of $1,069,497, also set by Baahubali: The Conclusion, on its fifth day of release. The SS Rajamouli-helmed epic topped $1 million on six separate days, and $3 million twice.
The majority of the biggest Indian openers in the U.S. are Telugu and Tamil-language pictures. The two Baahubali pictures, Kabali, Khaidi No 150 and SPYder all rank among the biggest first-day debuts.
SPYder’s Australia debut ranks seventh place on the charts with $108,731 collected from 56 venues, apparently a record for Indian pictures debuting in Australia.
The 2-1/2-hour thriller boats an 8.4 rating on IMDd. The cast includes Mahesh Babu, Surya S.J., Bharath Srinivasan and Rakul Preet Singh. It is directed by A.R. Murugadoss and written by the Paruchuri Brothers (dialogue) and Murugadoss.
Robert Haugh, a Bay Area based journalist who has been covering news, elections, arts & entertainment, professional sports, community events and crime for 18 years.
