After much anticipation and multiple delays due to COVID-19, south superstar Ajith Kumar’s Valimai was finally released on Thursday. And as expected, the action thriller lived up to all the hype around it. Helmed by H Vinoth, the film hit the theatres on February 24 and has reportedly made astonishing first-day collections at the box office.
Valimai arrived with a bang on the first day. According to a report by Filmibeat, the mystery-thriller grossed Rs 36.17 crore in Tamil Nadu alone on day one. With these figures, it has even managed to outshine Rajnikanth’s 2021 action drama Annaatthe which had grossed Rs 35 crore on its opening day in the state. Meanwhile, Valimai has garnered Rs 1.82 crore in Chennai and its worldwide opening day collection is estimated to be between a whopping Rs 45 and Rs 50 crore.
Notably, the action thriller had started doing impressive business even before its release. Reportedly, Valimai’s theatrical rights were sold for Rs 62 crore in Tamil Nadu. Whereas, the film also did a great pre-release business in Karnataka and Kerala where it was sold to distributors for Rs 5.5 crore and Rs 3.5 crore, respectively. On the other hand, the film garnered Rs 16 crore and Rs 2 crore by selling its overseas and Hindi theatrical rights, respectively.
The flattering response received by the movie is not only evident in its collection, but a theatre reaction video shared on one of Ajith’s Instagram fan pages shows fans going crazy in the theatres. The video has been shot inside a theatre where Valimai was being screened. As the title of the film appears on the screen, the audience is seen going berserk in the movie hall. Amid hooting and jumping with excitement, cinephiles were seen showcasing their love for the most awaited movie to the fullest.
Besides Ajith Kumar, Valimai also stars Bollywood actress Huma Qureshi. Produced by Boney Kapoor, the film was earlier slated to be released on January 13 during Pongal. However, it had to be postponed given the rising COVID-19 cases.
