Indian superstar Rajinikanth’s latest movie has scaled a new box-office high with Jailer 2, the sequel to his 2023 superhit Jailer, collecting more than Rs 8 billion (Dh309.6 million approximately) in collections at Indian and overseas screens.
According to data from the box office tracker Sacnilk, the action comedy starring the Tamil screen legend and a bevy of leading actors, has minted Rs 8.08 billion at cinemas around the world in the 18 days since its release. In doing so, Rajinikanth has only bettered his own record, upstaging the collections of his 2018 action-fantasy film 2.0, which previously held the record for the highest Tamil grosser.
Nearly two-thirds of the film’s gross collections—or Rs 5.33 billion—are from India, Sacnilk data showed.
The film, produced by Sun Pictures and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, opened in theatres on October 15, during the Navaratri holiday season in India, among the release periods traditionally coveted by filmmakers.
Jailer 2, which released in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, raked in Rs 4 billion in its first four days of release. Collections experienced a dip in subsequent days before picking up again, according to Indian media reports.
The movie is also the first Tamil film to collect Rs 750 million each in the four south Indian markets of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Mount Rs 10-billion-mark in sight?
That prompted the veteran Tamil film distributor and financier Tiruppur Subramaniam to predict Jailer 2 would become the first Tamil film to cross Rs 10-billion-mark worldwide.
“I believe the movie will achieve Rs 1,000 crore,” Subramaniam told the Indian Express. “Look at all of Rajinikanth’s superhit films: Annamalai, Padayappa, Sivaji, Chandramukhi. All of them have comedy. Nelson understood this and made a comedy-action film.”
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) is the highest south Indian grosser of all time, netting in nearly Rs 18 billion globally, followed by 2024’s Pushpa 2: The Rule at Rs 17 billion, according to Indian media reports.
Expansive film cast
Jailer 2‘s cast comprises actors drawn from across Indian film industries such as SJ Suryah, Vidya Balan, Mithun Chakraborty, Yogi Babu, Ramya Krishnan, Mirnaa Menon, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Namo Narayana and Anna Rajan, and features Mohanlal, Jackie Shroff, Shivarajkumar and Hrithik Roshan in cameos.
The sequel brings back Rajinikanth as ‘Tiger’ Muthuvel Pandian, a retired jailer, who is up against an army of smugglers out to take out his family.
It takes off from where the first instalment ended, with Muthuvel Pandian up against newer foes.
Source: Khaleej Times