Vettaiyan box office Day 1 prediction: Superb opening, but can it beat Jailer?

Rajinikanth's Vettaiyan hit the screens amid mixed reviews on Thursday. While it is set for a solid opening at the box office, it is yet to see if it can really challenge the mega success of Jailer.

In Short

• Vettaiyan is looking at a great opening at the box office
• The Rajinikanth-starrer has done well in advance bookings
• The film has received mixed reviews so far

Rajinikanth's latest film, Vettaiyan, is set for a strong opening at the box office in India. Directed by TJ Gnanavel, it has received mixed reviews so far, which is hardly going to impact the first day business. However, all eyes remain on its potential to break the box office records set by the superstar's previous screen outing, Jailer.

The investigative drama performed well in its opening day advance sales by selling around 7.8 lakh tickets in all versions for Rs 15.22 crore gross (without block seats), reported the trade website Sacnilk. Jailer, which was released in August last year, recorded Rs 18.24 crore gross during its pre-sales business for the first day. The Nelson Dilipkumar-directorial opened at Rs 48.35 crore nett domestically after selling around 8.7 lakh tickets in all languages.

Considering the advance booking numbers and gauging the word-of-mouth around the film, Vettaiyan is expected to earn in the range of 40-50 crore nett in India. It might close the opening day figures near to what Jailer collected on its first day. However, it is not likely for the film to surpass the opening day business of Jailer.

Having said that, it should be noted that the film has already earned around Rs 10 crore nett by 1:30 pm in India and business is expected to grow towards the evening. Beating Jailer on the first day is not that big of a concern for the film, but to chase its overall run would be a challenge for Vettaiyan. The film ran for around eight weeks and ended its lifetime domestic collection at Rs 348.55 crore nett.

The biggest strength for Jailer was in collecting brilliant word-of-mouth, which could be seen in its performance during the weekdays. The film kept earning in double-digit figures. In fact, its first Tuesday numbers (Rs 36.5 crore) were more than its first Sunday numbers (Rs 34.3 crore) - speaking volumes of the content prowess. The same thing seems to be lacking in Vettaiyan.

It is still too soon to be sure about anything yet. Vettaiyan could end up being a big game-changer as well. But, the first weekend performance will determine all that.