Veeram and Jilla - International Box Office Report

Veeram and Jilla's revenue break-down after 10 days is provided for key international markets. The total including 2nd weekend collections in most of the international markets for both Jilla and Veeram are as follows,

United States (USA)

Veeram leads the USA market with a total collection of $240,381. Jilla's gross for the same time period is $228,055. Thanks to Mohan Lal's presence which gave at least a good 25% bump from Malayalam fans to Jilla's collection in this market.

Comparatively speaking, Jilla has collected $30,000 less than Thalaiva while Veeram has collected a whopping $140,000 less than Arrambam. US distributors believe that both Jilla and Veeram would have collected over $300,000 each if they had released separately. There is at least an estimated net-loss of $150,000 (Rs.90 Lakhs) with respect to unrealized potential. [Verdict : Jilla - Above Average ; Veeram - Above Average]

United Kingdom (UK)

It is amazing to see the star power of Vijay in the UK market. Jilla has collected a total of £227,876 (₹ 2.31 Cr.) and Veeram a total of £106,584 [₹ 1.08 Cr.] so far. Veeram got hurt by the clash despite getting better word of mouth than Jilla.  It is disappointing to note that Ajith's earlier release, Arrambam, had collected £177,131 [₹ 1.80 Cr.] which was around 65% more than that of the latest Veeram. [Verdict: Jilla - Hit; Veeram - Average].

Australia 

Tamil films in Australia have done well compared to the movies in the past. The hype surrounding these two movies have brought more people to the theatres. Veeram collected a healthy total of A$ 82,934 [Rs 44.9 lacs] and Jilla collected A$ 42,677 [Rs 23.12 lacs]. This is a very small market compared to the likes of Malaysia, UK and USA.  [Verdict : Veeram - Hit ; Jilla - Average].

Malaysia

Jilla again leads Veeram by a small margin in Malaysia. As per Rentrak, Jilla has collected MYR 827,916 [Rs 1.54 cr] and Veeram MYR coming in closely at MYR 785,780 [Rs 1.46 cr]. The final verdict and the impact of the clash is still uncertain as the total box office figures are awaited.

2014's First Lesson for Tamil Movie Industry

2014 has already dished out an important lesson for Tamil Industry -- International markets cannot handle 2 big releases during the same weekend. Period! Regardless of the star powers, the collections will get split between any two major releases that compete for the financially scrupulous international audience. Secondly, long festival weekend in India doesn't mean much in the international markets since it is only a regular 2-day weekend at most of these foreign locations. Unless the distributor manages to buy the rights at a 30% discount from Tamil producers, it doesn't make much economic sense to release two big movies on the same day in the international markets.