Thunivu box office collection day one: Ajith Kumar film beats Vijay's Varisu in Tamil Nadu, mints Rs 26 crore nationally

Ajith Kumar’s Thunivu has registered a strong start at the box office in its home state Tamil Nadu. The action thriller, which was released on theatres on Wednesday, has beaten Vijay’s Varisu to be the number one film in the state box office ahead of Pongal. While Thunivu’s collection numbers are below Ajith’s recent releases, given Varisu’s competition, it has done fairly well.

Thunivu is an action thriller starring Ajith as a bank robber, who takes several people at a big bank hostage. The film deals with bank scams and corruption and presents Ajith in a grey character. Fans and critics have praised how the film has been able to present an entertaining story while delivering a message on greed at the same time. The film sold tickets worth over Rs 10 crore in advance booking for the first day.

Looks like the decent critical response has turned into favoruable numbers at the box office as well. Trade tracker Sacnilk’s report shows that the film is expected to earn Rs 18 crore nett in Tamil Nadu on its opening day. In comparison, Vijay’s Varisu, which also released on Wednesday, is expected to nett Rs 17 crore.

#Thunivu debuts at No.1 at the TN Box office on Day 1..

Once again, proving Actor #AjithKumar is the King of Opening..  pic.twitter.com/M7hTx5QXNZ

— Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) January 12, 2023

Overall, early estimates put Thunivu’s day one nett earnings across all languages at Rs 22 crore and gross earnings of Rs 26 crore. Here, Varisu just about edges ahead, courtesy Vijay-starrer’s stronger performance in Karnataka and North India. The film’s combined gross national collection for Wednesday is expected to cross Rs 50 crore, a huge number for the industry.

Trade experts say that the film has chances to build on a strong word of mouth over the extended weekend and may be looking at a Rs 75-crore gross extended Pongal weekend. Whether it will get to that number remains to be seen but it is a promising start indeed.