'Thalavii' recieves a slow start at box office; 'Shang-Chi' still getting footfalls

Filmmakers of Bollywood are still looking for footfalls in theatres amid the resumption of theatres closed due to COVID-19 pandemic. The latest movie to release in this attempt was the Kangana Ranaut-starrer Thalaivii. If the initial collections of the biopic of late actor-turned-Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa are anything to go by, audiences, it seems, audiences will take more time to warm up to the theatres amid the pandemic. 

Kangana's Thalaivii had a slow start at the box office, collecting over Rs 1 crore on its opening day. The collections were lower than that of another recent release Bell Bottom as well as of other releases during the pandemic, like Roohi.    

Kangana Ranaut's Thalaivii opens poorly at the box office

As per a report by Box Office India, Thalaivii earned Rs 1.25 crore on its opening day, Friday. The movie has been released in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil versions and the Hindi version did not do the best business in the Hindi-speaking belts. 

The major source of revenue for the makers was from the Tamil version, which is understandable considering it was the biopic on J Jayalalithaa. The biopic is said to have earned Rs 80 lakh in Tamil Nadu alone.

As per reports, the day 2 collections were better, said to be around Rs 1.45 crore. The two-day collections of the movie are just over Rs 2.5 crore. One of the recent releases Bell Bottom had earned Rs 2.50 crore to Rs 2.75 crore on Day 1, though it was expected to do much better and ha earned around the Rs 20 crore-mark at the box office.

The collections could have been hampered by states like Maharashtra and Kerala not opening up their theatres. Another factor that affected its collections could be the makers' disagreement with some multiplexes over the Hindi version. The multiplexes have refused to screen the Hindi due to the two-week window between its theatrical and Over-the-Top release.  They are, however, streaming the Tamil and Telugu versions, as there is a four-week window between the releases.  

Interestingly, a Hollywood film, Shang-Chi: And the Legend of the Ten Rings is doing well comparatively. Despite being in the second week, it earned Rs 1.15 crore on Friday, to take the collections to Rs 16.85 crore.