This week we witnessed three big-ticket films – ‘
Nene Raju Nene Mantri
’, ‘
LIE
’ and ‘
Jaya Janaki Nayaka
’ – lock horns and clash at the box office. With top actors like
Rana Daggubati,
Kajal Aggarwal, Niithin, Bellamkonda Sreenivas and Rakul Preet Singh in the lead roles and the trailers and teasers making quite a buzz around the movies, these were amongst the most-awaited Telugu movies of the year. With $140,833 opening at the US box office,‘Nene Raju Nene Mantri’s’ launch was notably stronger than LIE and Jaya Janaki Nayaka. The political drama took in more than $140,833 at the box office, eclipsing ‘LIE's’ $50,623 and ‘Jaya Janaki Nayaka’s’ $8,535 launch at the US box office in the premiere shows on Thursday.The box office result was inevitable since Rana’s flick was
ahead of the
race in terms of hype, promotion and screen count. The movie released in 129 screens across North America, while ‘LIE’ and ‘Jaya Janaki Nayaka’ opened in 108 and 82 screens, respectively. Thus, ‘Nene Raju Nene Mantri’ was set to lead the race overseas.However, it is too early to determine the fate of the movies. The figures are likely to go up and the box-office potential of the movies can only be determined by this weekend.