'Godfather' 1st day box office collection: Chiranjeevi-starrer off to a flying start

Hyderabad, Oct 06: Mega Star Chiranjeevi's 'Godfather' has got a flying start at the Andhra and Telangana box office. The Telugu film, which hit the screens on Wednesday to coincide with Vijayadashami celebration, has opened to fairly positive reviews from the audience and critics.

Released in over 1500 screens worldwide, the Telugu flick had generated positive buzz before its release. As a result, the advance booking of tickets had met with good response from the audience. Cashing in on the hype, 'Godfather' managed to get over 60 per cent screens for its release in the two states. In fact, it had the upper hand over the other release 'The Ghost' which stars Nagarjuna.

The movie is estimated to have collected Rs 20.9 crore in Andhra and Telangana box office from 700 screens in two states on the first day with distributors' share of 13 crore. In Andhra alone, it has garnered Rs 11.2 crore.

In Karnataka, the movie has raked in around Rs 4 crore with distributors' share of Rs 1.8 crore.

The worldwide collection, as per the estimates, is Rs 31.9 crore (gross).

As far as the US collection of 'Godfather' is concerned, the movie had grossed $318,233 from the premiere shows. It is estimated to have added $50,750 from 203 locations on Wednesday.

It has to be noted that Chiranjeevi's previous film 'Acharya', which bombed at the box office, had grossed Rs 40.2 crore at the Andhra and Telangana box office alone on the opening day. The worldwide collection stood at Rs 52 crore.

'Godfather', which has made a pre-release business of Rs 92 crore from the sale of theatrical rights, is a remake of Malayalam blockbuster film 'Lucifer' which starred Mohanlal, Manju Warrier and Vivek Oberoi in the leads. The Telugu version has Chiranjeevi, Nayanthara and Satya Dev enacting the same characters.

In the original, Prithviraj had done an extended cameo and Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has done it in the Telugu version.