Waltair Veerayya box office collection day 3: Chiranjeevi film collects nearly Rs 100 crore in first weekend itself

Waltair Veerayya has convincingly and easily won the Sankranthi battle at the box office. The Chiranjeevi-starrer has raked in big money on all the three days of the big festive weekend, inching close to the Rs 100-crore mark. The action entertainer opened to positive reviews with praise from fans for Chiranjeevi’s return to his ‘vintage’ avatar.

Waltair Veerayya also stars Ravi Teja and Shruti Haasan in important roles. The film has been praised by fans for using Chiranjeevi’s traditional strengths of comedy and dance, which had made him a superstar in the 90s. It opened strongly, earnings Rs 29 crore on its first Friday.

Trade tracker Sacnilk reported that Waltair Veerayya earned Rs 20.8 crore nett domestically on Sunday, taking its opening weekend domestic nett haul to Rs 70 crore. The film has also done well overseas, particularly in the US. Adding the overseas figures, Waltair Veerayya has a worldwide gross of Rs 98 crore in its first three days. It would have easily crossed Rs 100 crore gross by Monday morning.

The bulk of the film’s earnings have come from the Telugu version and within Andhra Pradesh and Telangana only. The Hindi version has netted just Rs 90 lakh in three days despite Chiranjeevi’s popularity in the north. Outside the Telugu-speaking states, the film has earned only Rs 10 crore so far in all, which includes Rs 7 crore from Karnataka alone.

However, the film has managed to outdo the business of Veera Simha Reddy, the other big Telugu release of the week. The Nandamuri Balakrishna film was released on Thursday, a day before Waltair Veerayya. And even though it registered a bigger opening (Rs 33 crore), it has steadily fallen behind Waltair Veerayya since.