Rajinikanth's Jailer 2 cracks the US top 10 with a $3.2 million weekend

Top photo: Rajinikanth receives the Dadasaheb Phalke Award from then Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu at the 67th National Film Awards in New Delhi on October 25, 2021. Photo by the Vice President's Secretariat, published by the Press Information Bureau, Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.

A Tamil-language film starring a 75-year-old Rajinikanth finished ninth on the US box-office chart over the weekend. Jailer 2 took $3.2 million from 800 theatres between Friday and Sunday, Sacnilk reported on Monday, citing Box Office Mojo's estimates. Paramount's Street Fighter led with $31 million.

That works out to an estimated $4,000 a theatre, Sacnilk calculated. One place below, Forgotten Island averaged $1,024 across 2,149 screens.

Most of the money came from the Tamil original. By Saturday the Tamil version accounted for $3.59 million of the film's $4.25 million North American total, Sacnilk reported, citing the tracker Venky Box Office. That is roughly 85 percent.

Nelson Dilipkumar's sequel to his 2023 hit opened on Thursday, October 15, the date Sun Pictures announced in September. Rajinikanth reprises his role as Tiger Muthuvel Pandian. Kalanithi Maran's Sun Pictures produced the film, Koimoi noted.

In India the film collected ₹199.90 crore net over its first four days, according to Sacnilk's day-wise tracker. The gross was ₹234.25 crore. Sunday alone brought in ₹55.85 crore net, up 18.2 percent from Saturday.

In India, too, the Tamil original led. Through day four it earned ₹143.70 crore net, Sacnilk counted, against ₹37.75 crore for the Telugu dub and ₹16.65 crore for Hindi. Hindi shows ran at 25.3 percent occupancy.

Overseas added ₹190 crore gross in four days, by Sacnilk's estimate, for a worldwide gross of ₹424.25 crore. BusinessToday used a rate of ₹94.75 to the dollar last week. At that rate the total is roughly $45 million.

Premiere screenings grossed $1.43 million, Koimoi reported. The site's tally for the full opening day, Thursday, was $2.065 million, with $1.72 million from the US and $343,000 from Canada. The Hindi version earned $4,000.

Shloka Entertainments, the film's distributor in North America, posted on X on October 16 that the film "SHATTERS the $2 MILLION mark in North America," BusinessToday reported. Koimoi's count backs that up.

Sacnilk now puts the four-day North American gross at $5.1 million to $5.3 million. It listed the first Jailer's North American lifetime at $7.25 million and Coolie, Rajinikanth's 2025 release, at $6.98 million. Koimoi and Sacnilk both put break-even at $6.5 million.

Pinkvilla's breakdown on Monday put the four-day US gross at $4.1 million and Canada's at $750,000. Together that is $4.85 million, below Sacnilk's range. The Middle East led every overseas market with $6.45 million, Pinkvilla said.

Dilipkumar thanked audiences on X on Sunday. "Theatres are going bonkers! Thalaivar magic hits different," he wrote, in a post that IANS quoted alongside a photo with Rajinikanth and the composer Anirudh Ravichander. Ravichander scored both films.

The actor Dhanush posted on X after the film's first show on Thursday, IANS reported. He called it "a MUST MUST MUST watch." Kamal Haasan, writing in Tamil on X the same day, congratulated "my dear friend Rajinikanth," in the IANS translation.

None of these figures come from the producer. It was not clear whether Sun Pictures would publish an official total. Sacnilk's own disclaimer warns that its data may differ widely from producers' figures. Pinkvilla's approximate worldwide figure, ₹402 crore, sits ₹22 crore below Sacnilk's.

The rankings differ. Koimoi called it Kollywood's second-biggest four-day opening in India, behind the ₹215.25 crore net of 2.0. Pinkvilla ranked its ₹224 crore India gross third, practically tied with Coolie at ₹224.25 crore.

Rajinikanth's pull abroad goes back at least to 1998. That year Muthu opened at Cinema Rise in Tokyo's Shibuya district as Muthu Odoru Maharaja and ran 23 weeks. After a nationwide release it grossed ¥400 million in Japan, by Wikipedia's account.

The 2023 Jailer also made the US top 10, from 450 theatres, Sacnilk recorded. The Numbers' daily chart showed Jailer 2 dipping 15 percent from Saturday, Sacnilk reported. Most nearby films fell 19 to 38 percent.

By Sacnilk's estimate, the film needs another $1.2 million to $1.4 million in North America to break even. Its second weekend begins Friday, October 23.