The year’s biggest box office clash is all set to take place over the Independence Day weekend with Rajinikanth’s ‘Coolie’ and Hrithik Rosha and Jr NTR’s high-octane spy actioner ‘War 2’ gearing up to release on the same weekend. With advance bookings in full swing in overseas markets, early numbers suggest ‘Coolie’ may just be off to a flying start, while ‘War 2’ has a lot of catching up to do.
Coolie Advance Booking
Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, ‘Coolie’ has kicked off its domestic advance booking on a fiery note, amassing an estimated Rs 1.81 crore in ticket sales, and with blocked seats pushing the overall collections to an estimated Rs 5.09 crore. Kerala currently leads with Rs 96.5 lakh in confirmed sales and Rs 3.06 crore, including blocked seats. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu follows close behind with a confirmed ticket sale of Rs 83.98 lakh and Rs 2.01 crore in blocked seats.Overseas, the film is creating waves with opening-day pre-sales nearing Rs 30 crore gross. If the film does manage to keep the fans flocking to theatres, it could potentially beat ‘Leo’ record for the biggest Tamil title debut in international markets. In North America alone, Coolie has raked in $1.42 million with an estiamted $1.12 million from Tamil and $300K from Telugu dubbed versions. According to Sacnilk, the huge demand for the film could just boost ticket sales to cross the 100K tickets/hour mark closer to release.The film stars Rajinikanth, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Shruti Haasan, Upendra, Sathyaraj, Soubin Shahir, and Aamir Khan in key roles, and promises an adrenaline-pumping gangster saga.
War 2 Ready for Take-off
Meanwhile, ‘War 2’, the next instalment in the YRF Spy Universe, has already opened pre-sales in overseas markets and has netted promising numbers. Six days before release, the Hrithik Roshan-Jr NTR starrer has collected $310K in North America, comprising $232K from Telugu and $78K from Hindi versions.In India, all-India advance booking for the film will open on Sunday, August 10, four days before its August 14 release. Some theatres may begin sales a day earlier. The Ayan Mukerji directorial also stars Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana, and Anil Kapoor, and will release in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil.The two films are set for a high-stakes box office battle that could boost both their collections or could even affect their performances.
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