Late Puneeth Rajkumar’s James breaks into 100-crore club in only four days

The film, directed by Chethan Kumar, was released on the Power Star’s birthday on March 17.

Puneeth Rajkumar in a still from James

For fans of the late Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar, his posthumous release James is the last time they get to see him in a full-fledged commercial film. And they are making sure that the film makes history as one of the biggest hits in Kannada, which they deem a befitting response to his swan song.

On day 1, when the film released across the globe in nearly 4,000 screens, Karnataka recorded a massive Rs 27 crore (approx) gross collection, a trend, which continued over the weekend, to help the film break into the Rs 100-crore club in only four days. Industry insiders say that once the figures from the other languages release and overseas market comes in, the film may actually be inching closer to Rs 200-crore gross, if not more.

According to sources, James was made at a budget between Rs 18-20 crore and that producer Kishore Pathikonda was sitting on a neat profit with pre-sales well before the film hit theatres. In the last few days, he has also finalized OTT and satellite deals, which has brought in another Rs 50-60 crore.

James will likely get one more good weekend, even though the Telugu biggie RRR is releasing with nearly 2,000 shows across Karnataka on March 25. No other Kannada film is releasing that weekend. It is being speculated that the makers will look at bringing James to OTT shortly after its theatrical run to capitalize on the euphoria surrounding the project. While no official date is currently available, the buzz is that James could be on OTT before the theatrical release of KGF: Chapter 2.

James, directed by Chethan Kumar, had about 20-days of work pending when Puneeth passed away following cardiac arrest. In the time since his demise, the team had been working towards completing the film and releasing it on his birthday, as a treat for fans. While a duet was completely avoided, the team had to resort to computer graphics to create Puneeth in a few scenes, while a stunt double was used for one action sequence.

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