Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam 2 finally made it to theaters on August 10, more than five years after the well-received first part. The consensus was that despite being a largely watchable spy thriller, the film still fell short of the standard set by its brilliant predecessor. Many felt that the film seemed to have been largely constructed on the edit table, with a majority of the footage shot six years ago. This gave the film a dated look, with its dialogues also reflecting the years that it was stuck in the cans.
On the box-office front, Vishwaroopam 2 hasn't flourished as expected. It faced release issues in Tamil Nadu, due to producer Aascar Ravichandran's run-ins with some distributors over his previous films I and Maryan. It failed to release in a big territory like Madurai and quite a few other districts too. Given that the film starred Kamal Haasan and was coming out three years after Thoongavanam, a well-planned release was the least that his loyal fans expected, only to be left disappointed. Still, they went all-out in celebrating the film wherever it opened, bringing large banners and cut-outs of the star to theatres.
Also Read: Everything You Need To Know About Vishwaroopam 2
The film has grossed close to 14 CR in Tamil Nadu after four days, witnessing a big drop on Monday; the first three days' TN gross was close to 13 CR. The number would've been much better had it been a full-fledged release. In Chennai city, the film has grossed a good 3.38 CR in four days but again saw a large drop on Monday. During its opening weekend, the film benefited from a hike in ticket rates in some popular Chennai multiplexes like the SPI Cinemas chain and Devi. Given that August 15 is a national holiday, screens showing the film are expected to see a rise in footfalls.
This Friday's big release, Nayanthara's CoCo, is expected to eat into the market share of Vishwaroopam 2. Pyaar Prema Kaadhal is also doing well, while new releases in other languages, like Geetha Govindam (Telugu) and Gold (Hindi) will also have their own target audience in TN.
Vishwaroopam 2′s opening weekend performance was largely underwhelming in the other markets. Kerala has been severely hit by heavy rains and floods, while Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were expected to put up a much better show. The film grossed close to 8 CR cumulatively from these four states.
In the USA, Vishwaroopam 2 (Tamil and Telugu) grossed $3,53,321 (2.47 CR) over its opening weekend (including the Thursday premieres). It doesn't have the potential to go much further. In comparison, the lifetime gross of the first part was a handsome $1.24 million (Tamil and Telugu).
In Malaysia, Vishwaroopam 2 secured the fourth spot on the list of the top five weekend grossers. The film is playing in more than 90 locations in the country. In Australia, Vishwaroopam 2 grossed AU$115,184 (58.5 lakhs) in its opening weekend, from 42 theaters.
On the whole, not a very promising report card. Hopefully, Kamal will bounce back with his next – Shankar's Indian 2.