NEW YORK: Another holiday release from Bollywood rounded off the year 2007 with Akshay Kumar-starrer Welcome smashing box office collections in overseas markets.
With a historic opening, not only has the Indian Films-Studio 18 mega release, Welcome outstripped competition and emerged the final winner at the box-office, but the numbers in the overseas have also surpassed those of all erstwhile solo Akshay Kumar titles, creating a new record for the actor.
In the US, the first two days grossed $100,000 only from the mainstream theatres (independents excluded), extremely impressive considering the biggest grosses will start from December 26.
In almost every mainstream location, Welcome out-grossed even the major Hollywood openers like Charlie Wilson's War, P.S. I Love You and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. In the UK, the preview and opening weekend gross was a smashing £370,000 (approx) from 40 locations.
In the UAE, just the 5-day business of Welcome was nearly as much as the lifetime gross of Kumar's earlier hits. The business to date is AED 1.8 million from 29 locations.
Remarking on the breaking his record Akshay Kumar said, "Three previous hits and now Welcome creating records, 2007 has been a year of box-office fortune! I'm glad that I'm ending 2007 on a high (literally) with Welcome, my highest overseas opener."