Chennai Express has collected Rs 156.71 crore in its first week at the box office, to become the first Hindi film ever to cross the 150 crore mark in one week (7 days including paid previews). The previous best first week collection record of Rs 137.15 crore, was held by Salman Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger, which has been trounced!
Like one of the songs in the film, Chennai Express has done well from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. A couple of circuits that didn’t initially open to record breaking numbers put up excellent figures towards the end of the first week. The film was also rock-steady during the weekdays, and ended the week with second highest collections on Independence Day – the previous best was the opening day of Ek Tha Tiger.
Chennai Express Box office
CE is Shahrukh Khan’s first universal hit since Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) and also his biggest grosser ever. In just 7 days, the film has also gone past some of Bollywood’s biggest blockbusters like Rowdy Rathore, Bodyguard and Dabangg.
Chennai Express First Week Collections and Records – Day wise
- Paid Previews – 6.75 crore (broke the record by a huge margin)
- Friday – 33.12 crore (highest single day and first day)
- Saturday – 28.06 crore (15% drop) (highest second day and Saturday)
- Sunday – 32.50 crore (16% growth) (highest third day and Sunday)
- Monday – 12.62 crore (61% drop) (second highest non-holiday Monday)
- Tuesday – 11.50 crore (9% drop) (second highest non-holiday Tuesday)
- Wednesday – 12.56 crore (9% growth) (highest non-holiday Wednesday)
- Thursday – 19.6 crore (55% growth) (second highest Independence day collections)
- Total – 156.71 crore (record weekend)
Verdict: BLOCKBUSTER
A special mention for the marketing team behind Chennai Express, who have gone all out to promote the Rohit Shetty entertainer even after its theatrical release last week. SRK too has been tirelessly promoting his film all over, right from visiting theatres across Mumbai (including the iconic Maratha Mandir) to interacting with fans on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
For those associated with the film, there is absolutely nothing that is more satisfying than box office success, because at the end of the day success at the ticket windows means the film has been liked and well-appreciated. Congratulations to Rohit Shetty, Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and the entire team behind the blockbuster success of Chennai Express. Truly well deserved.