Two Tamil films, Pradeep Ranganathan’s Dragon and Dhanush’s third film as a director, Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam, were released in theatres last week. Dragon collected a gross of around fifty crores worldwide during its first weekend and is on its way to becoming the first hundred-crore-grossing film for Pradeep Ranganathan. On the other hand, Dhanush’s film, Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam, received decent reviews but did not perform as expected at the ticket window during its first weekend.
Coming to North America, Dragon collected a gross of $615,288 and Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam collected a gross of $127,918 during the first weekend. Telugu versions of both films were released along with the Tamil versions last Friday in North America. Both the films have no big Tamil stars and yet Telugu versions of both the films did considerably well.
The Telugu version of Dragon collected a gross of $199,910 during its first weekend and that is 32.5% of the total gross the film collected in North America until Sunday. The Telugu version of Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam collected a gross of $46,168 and that is 36% of the total gross the film collected in North America until Sunday. This is a notable difference between the Telugu and Tamil audiences when it comes to patronising movies. While the Telugu audience in North America watches films based on their merits irrespective of the language, the Tamil audience seems to be very particular about watching only Tamil films in theatres.
The biggest blockbuster, Pushpa2: The Rule’s Tamil version collected a gross of only $189,901 in North America. Other recent Telugu big films in recent times, Salaar collected $110,951, Devara collected $15,365 and Game Changer which was directed by Tamil cinema’s biggest director, Shankar Shanmugam, collected a forgettable $23,154, from their Tamil versions. Only Kalki 2898 AD was able to collect more than half a million dollars from its Tamil version in North America.
The maximum percentage of gross contributed by the Tamil version for a Telugu big star film is 2.97% in the last two years in North America but Telugu version’s contribution for even the small films with not so notable faces is averaging about 30%. Telugu and Tamil-speaking people in North America and even in general across the world are usually considered big cinema lovers but the numbers suggest that Telugu audiences watch a film, if it is good irrespective of the language and Tamil audiences prefer to watch only Tamil films in theatres.
Tags Dragon Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam North America
