రోజురోజకి ప్రాజెక్ట్ వ్యయం పెరుగుతూనే ఉంది : CM Chandrababu Over Polavaram Inspection

Karuppu, which was originally scheduled for release on May 14, faced a last-minute delay due to financial issues involving distributors. The film eventually hit theatres a day later on Friday, and despite the unexpected postponement, it opened to a surprisingly strong response at the box office.

Trade circles initially expected the delay to affect the film’s opening collections, especially after Thursday’s advance bookings went to waste. However, the enthusiasm among fans remained intact, and audiences turned up in impressive numbers on Friday. In fact, the delay appears to have worked in the film’s favour by concentrating fan turnout into a single day.

Adding to the momentum, positive word of mouth from early viewers helped the film attract neutral audiences as well. The occupancy trends throughout the day reflected the growing response. In Tamil Nadu, the film opened with around 25 percent occupancy during morning shows and climbed to 46 percent in the afternoon. Evening shows registered nearly 53 percent occupancy, while night shows touched an impressive 75 percent, indicating strong audience acceptance.

The Telugu version of Karuppu also posted decent numbers, recording an average occupancy of around 28 percent across the day. With strong turnout in both languages, the film managed to deliver an excellent opening at the Indian box office.

According to early trade estimates, Karuppu collected approximately Rs 15.5 crore net on day one in India. Out of this, the Tamil version contributed around Rs 13.1 crore, while the Telugu version added Rs 2.4 crore. The overall gross collection reportedly stood at nearly Rs 18.29 crore.

With these figures, Karuppu has emerged as the biggest Kollywood opener of 2026 so far, surpassing Parasakthi, which had collected Rs 12.35 crore on its opening day.

The strong start has come as a major surprise for trade analysts, as most expected the film to open in double digits but did not anticipate it crossing the Rs 15 crore mark, especially considering it was released on a non-holiday weekend after a last-minute postponement.