Thunivu vs Varisu: The second day box office performances of Ajith, Vijay films leave the trade surprised

Ajith's Thunivu and Vijay's Varisu were released on January 11, and all eyes were on its day one numbers. The former surpassed the latter in terms of the figures earned in Tamil Nadu on the first day, while Varisu took the lead with regard to worldwide numbers.

Fans of Ajith attributed the upper hand Thunivu gained to the stardom of their matinee idol while Vijay fans claimed that it was because of the monopoly with which Red Giant Movies acted in ensuring that the former bagged best theatres which helped the H Vinoth directorial.

But the second day BO performance has a different story to say. The collection witnessed a steep downfall across all territories the movies were released. In Tamil Nadu, both Thunivu and Varisu registered only 50 percent of what they grossed on day one.

However, trade pundits opine that this was expected considering the pre-festival situation. Exhibitors hope that the box office numbers will again witness a spike in the coming days as Pongal festival holidays are beginning from Saturday. Another interesting factor is that Varisu has taken a lead on day two in Tamil Nadu.

While Vijay fans hope that Varisu's family-friendly genre would help it in the long run, Ajith fans are quite confident of Thunivu ending up as the winner. Having said that, it is true that both the movies couldn't meet the expectations set by fans and other cinephiles.

It was after a nine-year hiatus that films of the two actors were released on the same day. But it looks like it is tough to attract a repeat audience unlike in 2014, when Veeram and Jilla had better commercial packaging which were adequate to draw a crowd.