"Veer-Zaara" recorded the highest ever opening for a Hindi film in Britain. Released at 60 sites there, it collected 484,993 pounds sterling in its opening weekend, with a per screen average of 8,083 pounds.

It opened at number four in the British box office, even though it faced competition from big Hollywood films like "Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason" and "The Grudge". 

"Veer-Zaara" had to face as many as 12 new releases in its first weekend in Britain. Yet the collections of the film were astonishing.

On the second weekend, "Veer-Zaara" remained strong at number six in the British box office. The film collected 323,905 pounds on 59 screens, with a per screen average of 5,490 pounds.

In its third weekend, it was on number eight at the British box office with a collection of 199,848 pounds on 50 screens, with a per screen average of 3,997 pounds.

The total collections so far are 1.5 million pounds.

"Veer-Zaara" also recorded the second biggest opening ever for a Hindi film in the US and debuted at number 15 position. In its opening weekend, the film collected $903,010 on 88 screens, with the per screen average of $10,261.

In New York, the film debuted at number 16 position, collecting $51,474 on three screens, with the per screen average working out to $17,158. The first week grossed $1.2 million in the US.

"Veer-Zaara" had to face as many as nine new releases in its first weekend in the US. 

In its second week, the film collected $850,000 on 83 screens, with the per screen average of $10,240. In its third weekend, the film has collected $403,841 on 81 screens, with the per screen average of $4,986.

At the end of the third weekend, the US gross has already crossed $2.4 million.

"Veer-Zaara" also had the highest ever opening for a Hindi film in Australia. It opened at number 15 in its opening weekend with collections of Australian $83,830 on eight screens in the first weekend. 

It also had a record second weekend and collected $77,549 on eight screens. It was down just seven percent in comparison to the first week's collections, which is generally unheard of - "Bridget Jones..." fell 42 percent in the same period - and also rose to number 14 in its second weekend.

It also had the second highest national screen average per print in the second weekend, according to a weekend Top 20 report.

On the limited release chart (under 50 prints), "Veer-Zaara" moved to number two with the highest screen average by a very long way. The per screen average for the second weekend was $9,694. 

In the third weekend, "Veer-Zaara" still had the highest per screen average of all films on limited release and is yet rock-steady. The collections for the third weekend were $41,461 on eight screens, with the per screen average of $5,183. The film was at number 20 in the Australian charts in the third weekend. 

With the total so far having touched $255,691, "Veer-Zaara" has already emerged a blockbuster in the Australian market as well.

In India, the film opened to 100 percent collections in Mumbai, Delhi and other parts of the country. It had the biggest opening in the history of Indian cinema in Mumbai, Punjab and Kolkata territories.

The average earning per print for the first week was Rs.685,948 and for the second week was Rs.425,272.

In India, collections at the box office have already crossed Rs.300 million ($6 million approximately) and are still going strong. 

-Indo-Asian News Service