Telugu Superstar Pawan Kalyan Dominates North American Box Office

Pawan Kalyan’s latest release They Call Him OG has made a historic impact at the North American box office, delivering the biggest premiere day collection of the year. Directed by Sujeeth and featuring Emraan Hashmi, the film opened to an unprecedented USD 3.13 million, surpassing previous records set by Rajinikanth and Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie, which had debuted with USD 3.04 million.

The North American performance is a remarkable turnaround for Pawan Kalyan, whose last project, Hari Hara Veer Mallu, managed just over USD 1 million in the same market. Analysts note that the region traditionally favors Telugu and Hindi films, a trend that contributed to the strong opening for They Call Him OG.

By early evening, the film had added an additional USD 500,000 to its tally, pushing total earnings close to USD 4 million. With this, it ranks as the fourth highest opening for a Telugu film in North America, trailing only Pushpa 2 (Allu Arjun), RRR (Ram Charan and Jr NTR), and Kalki 2898 AD (Prabhas).

The film has also become the highest-grossing Telugu release of 2025 in North America, overtaking Venkatesh’s Sankranthiki Vasthunam, which collected USD 2.96 million, and Teja Sajja’s Mirai, which earned over USD 2.7 million.

In India, They Call Him OG is performing exceptionally as well. Paid premieres brought in Rs 20.25 crore, while the opening day across all languages reached Rs 70.75 crore, with Rs 70 crore from the Telugu version alone. Industry sources predict the film will cross the Rs 100 crore mark within hours, solidifying its blockbuster status.