Dhanush's Maari 2, which released alongside a bevy of other Tamil releases on 21 December, emerged as the winner during the opening weekend in Tamil Nadu with nearly Rs 11.2 crore. The film raked in approximately Rs 15.5 crore in its opening weekend in India, despite competing with other potential biggies such as Yash-starrer, Kannada period-action drama KGF: Chapter 1, and Shah Rukh Khan's Zero.

The opening weekend numbers of Maari 2 in Tamil Nadu, however, are below those of the prequel Maari and Dhanush's recent hit Vada Chennai, which scored a Rs 27.9 crore launch in the opening frame when it released for Ayudha Pooja holidays. But the footfall for the Balaji Mohan-directed gangster comedy is decent, since it confronted other Tamil releases such as Jayam Ravi's Adanga Maru, Vijay Sethupathi's Seethakaathi, Vishnu Vishal's Silukkuvaarpatti Singam and Sivakarthikeyan's maiden production Kanaa, headlined by Aishwarya Rajesh.

For the weekend ending 23 December, Maari 2 occupied the top spot with a three-day total of Rs 1.31 crore, followed Adanga Maru at Rs 1.01 crore. While Seethakaathi pulled in a good Rs 79 lakhs from four days, Kanaa earned Rs 45 lakhs from three days.

The Tamil Nadu gross of Adanga Maru is pegged at Rs 7 crore for the opening weekend, while Kanaa, directed by lyricist-writer Arunraja Kamaraj, emerged as the dark horse with excellent reviews, by posting a total of Rs 3.64 crore in the home state.