The most hyped film amongst the Diwali releases, Dude, has taken a smashing start at the box office as the early estimates are coming in for the opening day. The comedy entertainer starring Pradeep Ranganathan in the lead role is set to become his biggest opener by some distance.
The pre-sales of Dude were reported to be in the Rs 3 crore range, making it the biggest advance for a Pradeep film. His previous outing Dragon held the previous record with Rs 2 crore advance sales. The film also managed to get a pre-sales amount of over Rs 1 crore in the Telugu states.
In Kerala, the film saw reasonable advance numbers, with the final stats for Day 1 reported to be Rs 18 lakh. The opening day in the State could be a very solid number unless the word-of-mouth gets extremely negative. The early reports from overseas markets aren't encouraging while the reviews from South India are mixed to average so far.
According to early estimates, Dude is targeting an opening of Rs 6-8 crore gross in Tamil Nadu with an outside chance of breaching double digits in the state. That, though, will depend on how the word-of-mouth is floating around, especially amongst the family audience whose verdict will decide how far this film goes at the box office.
Pradeep's previous two films as hero were both massive blockbusters. Love Today had a worldwide gross of Rs 84 crore while Dragon went over the roof with a worldwide gross of Rs 152 crore. Both films earned unprecedented profits for the producers, distributors and exhibitors.
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The trade is anticipating a repeat of those films with Dude in terms of box office. With a festive season like Diwali, the release timing couldn't have been more apt for Pradeep Ranganathan to complete a hat-trick as hero. The weekend trends and weekday hold will give us a clearer picture about it.
[Data is compiled from independent sources linked to distributors and theater owners. Estimated figures could have a correction in the following day(s) when revised figures are obtained. This website doesn't take responsibility for the authenticity of these numbers]