'My Name Is Khan' earns Rs.250 mn on opening day

New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS) Controversies notwithstanding, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'My Name Is Khan' has gone on to rake in around Rs.250 million (about $5.3 million) across the globe on the opening day.

Directed by Karan Johar, 'My Name is Khan' was released Friday.

'We are delighted with the performance and audience reactions across demographics. More so, because this is only phase one of the film release,' Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Studios India, the Indian distributors of the film, said in a statement.

'In addition to the release across 45 countries, MNIK will be rolled out in a phased manner across 25 non-traditional markets from April onwards.'

The film features Shah Rukh as Rizvan Khan who embarks on a journey across America to win back the love of his life, played by Kajol. It shows how, along the way, his personality touches the lives of many and inspires a nation.

The movie is being marketed and distributed by Fox Star in India, in the US by its sister company Fox Searchlight and in the rest of the world by parent group 20th Century Fox International.

In New Zealand, the opening day collection was about $9,727 while in the Middle-East, the movie is already 50 percent higher than any other previous film in Bollywood with the earning estimated at $300,000.

There's also a huge demand for additional prints in the existing chains across the Middle East and the print count is expected to increase to around 60 by next week.

According to Fox, the film also will be released in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Oman and Lebanon in the coming week.

In terms of paid previews, the movie earned about $193,000 from 89 sites in Britain, which is said to be the highest for a single-day preview there. In Australia Thursday, paid previews collected around $34,000 and it ranked number 11.