Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi’s much-hyped film Thandel directed by Chandu Mondeti has been struggling at the North American box office, with early trends indicating that it might not even cross the $1 million mark. Despite a decent opening, the film’s collections have seen a sharp decline over the weekend and into the weekdays, raising concerns about its long-term prospects in the overseas market.
In its first three days, Thandel managed to collect $672,000, but the daily earnings have been dropping at an alarming rate. It started with the film earning US $419,000 from its premiere and day 1. But the collection dropped to US $174,000 on Day 2, and dropped even further to US $79,200 on Day 3, signaling a downward trend. By Day 4, early evening estimates reported just $22,770, thus taking the overall collection to around US $ 694,000 ( Rs 6.02 crore) , suggesting that the film’s hold over audiences is weakening.The film’s breakeven point is pegged at US $ 1.3 to US $ 1.4 million mark and the film’s spiralling down collection is hinting at a huge loss to the distributors, they faced massive losses with Ram Charan’s Game Changer as well.
The film’s overall performance in North America is now under scrutiny, as it needs a significant push to reach the $1 million milestone. With such steep declines, crossing this benchmark seems increasingly unlikely. Thandel appears to be struggling to attract repeat viewers or sustain momentum.
In India as well the film has faced a mass drop in its collection of monday where it earned just Rs 4.75 crore – a drop of over 60 %. The film has collected Rs 12.75 crore on Sunday and its weekend total stood at Rs 36.35 crore.
The film brings back the pairing of Naga and Sai after the successful first film Love Story in 2021.It is Naga’s first film post her marriage to Sobhita Dhulipala, he was earlier married to Samantha Ruth Prabhu.
