In a surprising development, Rajinikanth’s Coolie has taken a significant lead over Hrithik Roshan and NTR Jr.’s War 2 in advance ticket bookings at the US box office. With nine days left before their release, Coolie has already sold tickets worth around USD 205,000 (combining Hindi and Telugu versions) in North America. In comparison, War 2’s advance bookings have reached an impressive USD 1.2 million, but this figure is for the combined markets, highlighting Coolie’s strong showing in the US.
What makes this lead even more remarkable is that the North American market is largely dominated by Telugu audiences, yet a Tamil film like Coolie is outperforming War 2 in pre-sales. This trend isn’t limited to the US alone; Coolie is also ahead in other regions like Australia and New Zealand. Despite War 2 being a bigger-budget film and part of an established franchise, Coolie’s early bookings suggest a strong overseas interest in Rajinikanth’s movie.
Another surprising detail is that the Telugu dubbed version of Coolie has surpassed War 2’s Telugu version in US sales, with Coolie earning about USD 200,000 compared to War 2’s USD 155,000. Meanwhile, the Hindi version of War 2 trails behind other big releases like Pathaan and Jawan. With just over a week to go, War 2 will need to build momentum quickly if it hopes to make a significant impact in international markets.
