James box office collection day 1: Puneeth Rajkumar's last commercial film makes history in Kannada box office

Puneeth Rajkumar’s James released in theatres on March 17 in over 4000 screens. The movie, which is the late actor’s final commercial film, has collected a massive first day opening.

According to reports, the action flick has collected Rs15-18 crore on day 1 at the box office. As reported by Bollywood Life, James collected a gross of Rs 23.60 crore on its first day.

If this is true, this means Rajkumar’s swan song edges past Yash’s pan-Indian blockbuster, KGF. The period action thriller collected Rs 20.20 crore on its opening day.

The Kannada version of James is reported to have collected the major share of its opening collection, with it grossing over Rs 20 crore.

The movie was expected to do well in the box office, considering the emotional public sentiment the action flick carried following the untimely passing of Puneeth Rajkuumar. The actor passed away at the age of 46 on October 29, 2021.

“Ultimately, it is the emotion surrounding James that counts. This is one of the actor’s most massy outings, which his fans will love and cherish for time to come. This is also a film that does not require any review for his fans to head to the theatre.”, reads OTTPlay;s review of the movie.

There are also reports that suggest that the movie’s makers have already sold the satellite and streaming rights for James. Sony LIV has reportedly snached away the movie’s streaming rights from Amazon Prime Video for a whopping Rs 40 crore.

Backed by Kishore Productions, the movie is directed by Chethan Kumar and has Priya Anand as the female lead.