Rajinikanth’s 'Coolie' smashes advance sales with £4.6m pre-release haul, eyes £9.2m opening day

Highlights:

• Coolie racks up £4.6 million (₹50 crore) in worldwide advance bookings, four days before release.
• UK release set for 14 August, coinciding with Rajinikanth’s 50th year in cinema.
• Tamil version leads Indian sales with £1.25 million (₹13.7 crore), outpacing other dubbed editions.
• Industry expects Coolie to surpass £9.2 million (₹100 crore) worldwide on opening day.

Rajinikanth’s upcoming crime thriller Coolie is already rewriting box office history before a single ticket holder steps into a theatre. With four days still to go before its 14 August release, the film has amassed over £4.6 million (₹50 crore) in global pre-sales. The buzz around the Lokesh Kanagaraj-directed project suggests it could easily cross the £9.2 million (₹100 crore) mark worldwide on its first day, a milestone that would place it among the biggest openers in Indian cinema.

Coolie poster teases action-packed return for Tamil superstar Instagram/sunpictures

How much has Coolie earned in advance bookings in India?

In India, pre-sales officially began on 9 August, and by Monday morning the film had already generated £1.27 million (₹14 crore) in ticket sales. The lion’s share comes from the original Tamil version at £1.25 million (₹13.7 crore), while dubbed editions brought in:

• Hindi: £20,700 (₹22 lakh)
• Telugu: £6,580 (₹7 lakh)
• Kannada: £800 (₹85,000)

When factoring in block bookings, Coolie’s total domestic advance sales stand at £1.83 million (₹20.26 crore). Ticketing platform BookMyShow reports over 706,000 tickets already sold, surpassing Rajinikanth’s previous release Vettaiyan. The superstar now holds three of the top five pre-sale records for Tamil films, alongside Leo (2.28 million tickets), Jailer (1.19 million), and The Greatest Of All Time (1.19 million).

Coolie www.easterneye.biz

What do the overseas numbers look like?

Internationally, Coolie opened bookings weeks earlier, and the response has been equally staggering. North America alone has brought in around £1.28 million (₹14 crore), with £1.09 million (₹12 crore) from the USA, where over 56,000 tickets have been sold.

Trade analysts say the total overseas advance currently sits above £3.4 million (₹37 crore). With several markets yet to see peak sales and an extended Independence Day weekend ahead, distributors expect a sharp surge in the next 72 hours.

What is Coolie about and who’s in it?

Rajinikanth plays Deva, “a mysterious man who takes a stand against a corrupt syndicate exploiting workers in a port town.”

The cast also includes Nagarjuna, Sathyaraj, Upendra, Shruti Haasan, and Soubin Shahir, with music by Anirudh Ravichander. Bollywood star Aamir Khan makes a cameo as Dahaa, his first on-screen appearance with Rajinikanth since 1995’s Aatank Hi Aatank. His role is expected to hint at a potential spin-off.

The Central Board of Film Certification has granted the film an A (Adults Only) rating, marking Rajinikanth’s first A-rated release in years, signalling intense, unfiltered action sequences.

- YouTube youtu.be

Could Coolie become Rajinikanth’s biggest-ever opener?

If Coolie crosses the £9.2 million (₹100 crore) global mark on day one, as current trends suggest, it will not only set a new record for Tamil cinema but also cement its place among the highest single-day openers in Indian film history. It’s already surpassed the lifetime overseas earnings of films like Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life and even beaten the total haul of some major Hindi releases before hitting theatres.

With Rajinikanth celebrating 50 years in the industry, Coolie’s launch is shaping up to be more than just a release, it’s looking like a festival in itself for fans across the globe.