On its first day, 2.0 , starring Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar, garnered a revenue of ₹80 crore across India.
This is the second highest for an Indian film after Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), which made over ₹150 crore.
But at home in Chennai, the movie managed to collect only ₹2.42 crore. Overall, in Tamil Nadu, the movie collected ₹18 crore.
The Vijay-starrer Sarkar — which released during the first week of November 2018 — broke records by grossing over ₹30 crore on day one in Tamil Nadu.
Entertainment industry-analyst Sreedhar Pillai tweeted: “#2Point0 takes a very good opening in #ChennaiCity for day 1 (Thursday) — ₹ 2.40 cr. gross (does not include 3D glasses handling charges).”
Wait for weekend trends
In its Hindi version, 2.0 made over ₹20 crore.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh told The Hindu , “Despite being a non-holiday and non-festival release, the movie (Hindi version) has made over ₹20.25 crore on day one. The film was world class in terms of visual effects.”
He added that we needed to wait and watch the weekend trends.
A source in the film industry said that numbers would go up in the Chennai market during the weekend as bookings were full.
He said, “The biggest challenge is that everyone wants to watch the film in the 3D version. If you go to tier 2 and tier 3 towns, not all theatres are equipped with 3D technology.”
Another trade source pointed out that Tamil Nadu was not a market for expensive films like 2.0 .
‘Math does not work’
He further said, “The movie is mind-blowing, but in Tamil Nadu, with the government capping ticket prices, we can’t have an expensive movie.”
“The math does not work well,” he added.
Theatre owners across the State said that it’s housefull for them for the next four days.
In 2010, 2.0’s prequel Enthiran — which was produced by media baron Kalanithi Maran — garnered good response at the box office.
According to the 2011 annual report of Sun TV Network, the company released the movie simultaneously in three languages titled Enthiran in Tamil and Robot in Telugu and Hindi.
The company earned revenues of ₹179 crore, including ₹8 crore towards satellite rights.
The company had spent ₹132 crore on the production of the blockbuster.
